 In 1984 the 55,000 strong Defense Companies was broken up and merged into the Syrian Arab Army as the Republican Guard, and the 14th Special Forces Division, comprising 5 Special Forces regiments.The rump force then became the 569th Armored Division, which years later became the 4th Armoured division

The lessons of the Six-Day War of 1967 pointed to the fact of the weak airborne and heavy armor capabilities of the Syrian Military.There was a perceptible lack of expertise in combined arms operations involving a combined deployment of armoured, artillery and airborne infantry units.