Concern in Israel after Türkiye provided armored vehicles to the Syrian army for free
The Israeli media revealed that, in July 2025, Syrian transitional President Ahmed al Sharaa received four Turkish-made armored personnel carriers that were transferred to Syria for free and directly entered into military service.
According to reports, the arrival of this information to the Israeli Army intelligence service has raised a state of great concern, as intelligence analysts considered that the introduction of these Turkish vehicles into the Syrian army requires close follow-up.
These armored vehicles disappeared from Israeli radars for several days, prompting the intelligence services to intensively search for any indication of where they were stored or deployed inside Syrian territory.
According to an Israeli intelligence officer specialized in following open sources on the Internet succeeded, through a video taken by a Syrian citizen, in observing one of the troop carriers while it was being loaded onto a truck.
Thanks to this video, intelligence was able to locate the tankers inside a Syrian military base, and then sent up-to-date satellite images to senior military commanders in Israel.
Upon reviewing the photos, the head of the Military Intelligence Division, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, identified one of the troop carriers parked next to a large building, in an attempt that appeared to hide it from aerial surveillance.
But what struck him most wasn’t the armored vehicle itself, but a large plaza at the top of the photo, filled with dozens of Syrian army pickup trucks.
The images showed the vehicles in clear disarray, some of which appeared to be disabled or neglected without proper maintenance, which Binder saw as an indication of weak organization and discipline within the new Syrian army.
In July 2025, the Syrian Ministry of Defense officially announced that it had received the first batch of Turkish-made “Ejder” troop carriers, confirming their integration into the military units operating in the north of the country.
The move is a significant shift in defense relations between Damascus and Ankara, especially after the signing of a joint military cooperation agreement on August 13, which aims to support the capabilities of the Syrian army, modernize its structure and structure, in addition to reforming the security sector, according to the Syrian news agency SANA.
The Ejder troop armored vehicle, produced by the Turkish company Nurol Makina, is classified as a multi-role armored vehicle, designed to operate in desert and urban environments, and is equipped with modern protection systems.
It’s capable of transporting up to 12 soldiers, is equipped with multiple weapons, provides partial protection against mines and improvised explosive devices, and enjoys high mobility in rough terrain.
