5th Armoured Division (Syria)

The 5th Mechanized Division is a division of the Syrian Arab Army.

Black September in Jordan
The 5th Division, at that time an infantry formation, invaded Jordan during the events of Black September in Jordan, 1970. It was reinforced with two armoured brigades. After an ineffectual defence by the massively outnumbered Jordanian 40th Armoured Brigade, the 5th Division's attack was repelled with heavy losses on 22 September 1970 mostly through the efforts of the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

Yom Kippur War
The 5th Division also saw action on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War, being deployed alongside the 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 9th divisions. The 5th Division, under the command of Brig. Gen. Ali Aslan, was responsible for the front south and east of Rafid, and north of the Yarmouk Valley. Although designated as an infantry division, it was actually a mechanized division. The 5th Division was the only deployed division which had its full complement of armoured and mechanised vehicles, with some 10,000 men, 200 tanks, 72 artillery pieces, and an equal number of anti-aircraft weapons.

Syrian civil war
Commenting on events during the April–May 2011 Daraa siege, Henry Boyd of the IISS noted that "..the locally based 5th Armoured Division was supplemented by a brigade of the 4th Armoured Division under the command of Bashar’s brother Maher al-Assad."

Izra is base to the 5th Division’s 12th Armoured Brigade and 175th Artillery Regiment. The 12th Armoured Brigade has been reported as taking ba=part in the Siege of Menagh Air Base, near the Turkish border.