Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2014 -- BMI expects Syria to spend US$1.6bn on defence in 2014, although we believe that this figure could increase to US$1.7bn in 2015. We expect this upward trend to continue in 2016 with the country spending US$1.8bn annually on defence, with it then spending US$2.2bn and US$2.8bn in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Syria maintains several armed forces including its Army, Navy, Air Force and Air Defence Force. The numerical size of these armed forces have experienced a significant reduction since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. This is primarily the result of defections of personnel to the armed opposition fighting the government of President Bashir al-Assad, and as the result of casualties sustained by the Syrian armed forces during hostilities.

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In terms of the efforts to remove Assad's stockpiles of chemical weapons, in early February 2014, the UN Security Council demanded that efforts to destroy these weapons must be accelerated if the 30 June 2014 deadline for their destruction is to be respected. So far, less than five percent of these weapons have been removed and destroyed, according to US government estimates.

Moreover, infighting has now commenced within some of the anti-Assad groups. For example, two al- Qaeda based organisations; Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant have commenced hostilities. Meanwhile, reports of atrocities have continued with large swathes of Damascus and Hama reportedly being raised to the ground as areas suspected to harbour anti-regime sympathies.

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