[3][4] 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.

Also the political instability of the preceding decade in Syria pointed to the necessity of having a large and well-equipped body of highly loyal soldiers with strategic responsibilities of dealing with threats to the Ba'athist government.

From 1968 onwards many Alawite officers and soldiers from the regular Army were sent for advanced training to the Soviet Union in order to build up such a unit.

The Defense Companies were garrisoned outside Damascus, with the primary mission of countering attempted coups and challenges to the Assad government.

Their expertise lay in Soviet-style combined arms operations involving armour, mechanized, artillery, and airborne forces.

Lt. Col. Nassif ran a revenge operation after an attempted assassination of the President in 1980, in which a Battalion of Defense Company soldiers killed up to 1,000 Tadmor Prison inmates suspected of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In late February 1981, some of their senior commanders, including Colonel Adnan Barakat, were alleged to have been involved in an abortive assassination attempt against Jordanian Prime Minister Mudar Badran.

Members of the Defense Companies also reportedly have been sent abroad to monitor Syrian political exiles and to impede their activities.

[7] The Defense Companies were equipped with some of the most modern weapons available to the Syrian Army, including T-72 tanks, BM-21 Grad rocket artillery units, 2S4 Tyulpan heavy mortar vehicles, 122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30) field artillery howitzers, and Mil Mi-24D and Mil Mi-8 attack helicopters, and could demand logistical help and support from the regular military.

After basic training, the Saraya conducted their advanced courses at secret locations in the Damascus Countryside, Tartous mountains, and in Syrian-controlled parts of Lebanon.