Syria Graduates Air Force Cadets For First Time Since Assad Regime Fell

Syria held a graduation ceremony for Air Force Academy cadets. It was the first group of more than 1,000 aviators trained after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense published video footage from the graduation ceremony.

According to Janes, the event took place at Kuweires Air Base, which the new government renamed in honor of Khalid ibn al-Walid, a well-known Islamic military commander. The air base is located 40 kilometers east of Aleppo.

Aviation Of The New Syrian Government

The Syrian Arab Republic’s Air Force suffered significant losses during the civil war. The situation was further exacerbated by Israeli airstrikes aimed at reducing the military capabilities of Syria’s new government as much as possible.

Before the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime, Syria nominally had 248 aircraft and 153 helicopters in service: 50 MiG-21s, 87 MiG-23s, 2 MiG-25s, 29 MiG-29s, 39 Su-22s, 18 Su-24s, 23 L-39s, 27 Mi-24s, 62 SA342 Gazelles, 49 Mi-8/17s, 10 Mi-14s, 2 Ka-28s, and 3 Mi-2s. At the same time, most of this equipment was already in storage and unfit for flight operations.

The exact number and types of aircraft that the new government was able to preserve and restore remain unknown.

In January 2025, former Syrian rebels from the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham group began forming military aviation units.

At the time, technicians and other specialists began restoring surviving helicopters at government-controlled military bases after a series of Israeli airstrikes on Syrian airfields and military ports.

Israeli aircraft carried out strikes as soon as military bases came under rebel control. In particular, they destroyed Syrian Navy missile boats in the port of Latakia, as well as a significant number of air defense systems and attack helicopters at Mezzeh Air Base in Damascus.

In March 2025, the army of the new Syrian government, formed from former rebels, used Mi-24 attack helicopters for the first time in combat against remnants of Assad supporters in the coastal province of Latakia.

In September 2025, the armed forces of the new unified Syrian government flew L-39 trainer aircraft and Su-22 fighter-bombers for the first time.

In November 2025, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced the start of training for the first new group of cadets, whose training lasted only eight months.

A parade held in Damascus in December 2025 to mark the first anniversary of the change of regime featured one Mi-8/17 helicopter and two Gazelle helicopters.