DAMASCUS – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ordered the establishment of a National University for Defence Sciences, creating a specialised military education institution as his government seeks to professionalise the armed forces and rebuild the military following the overthrow of former president Bashar al-Assad.
A presidential decree issued on Sunday establishes the university as an independent scientific, educational and training institution dedicated to military sciences, headquartered in Damascus with the authority to establish colleges, institutes and research centres elsewhere in the country, the state news agency SANA reported.
The move forms part of broader efforts by Syria’s new authorities to overhaul state institutions after Assad’s government was toppled in December 2024 and to transform a patchwork of former rebel factions into a unified national army.
Under Decree No. 147 of 2026, the university will incorporate the Higher Military Academy, comprising the National Defence College, the Higher War College and the Command and Staff College, alongside the Military Academy, Air Force College, Naval Warfare College, the College of Humanities and Administration, the Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology and a network of military technical institutes.
The decree grants the institution legal status together with financial and administrative independence, reflecting what officials describe as an effort to build modern military education on institutional rather than factional foundations.
The announcement follows discussions held in recent weeks between Higher Education Minister Marwan al-Halabi and a Defence Ministry delegation led by Major General Salim Idris on plans for the university and closer cooperation between the academic and military sectors.
Since assuming power, Sharaa’s administration has made restructuring the armed forces a central priority, seeking to consolidate the numerous military formations that fought against Assad under the authority of the Defence Ministry and establish a unified chain of command.
That process remains one of the new government’s most complex challenges. The coalition that helped topple Assad included a wide range of armed factions with differing ideological backgrounds, including Islamist groups that fought alongside Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly led by Sharaa under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Military analysts say integrating those forces will require more than administrative reforms, demanding the creation of a unified military doctrine, common professional standards and institutional discipline to replace the factional loyalties that characterised Syria’s years of conflict.
The new university is expected to play a central role in training a new generation of officers under modern military curricula, with recruitment, promotion and education based on professional competence and military regulations rather than ideological affiliation or wartime allegiances.
Officials view the institution as a cornerstone of efforts to establish a professional national military capable of operating under a central command structure.
Its long-term success, however, is likely to depend on the government’s ability to complete the integration of former armed groups into a single military institution, place all forces under military law and maintain the political and security stability needed to rebuild state institutions after more than a decade of war.