Syria is building up its ground forces beyond their pre-civil war size, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday, an assessment that suggests Syrian President Bashar Assad's army has recovered from a critical manpower shortage earlier in the war.
The Syrian military was hit by major defections in the first years of the conflict, which began in 2011. By 2015, Assad acknowledged that "a shortfall in human capacity" meant the army could not fight everywhere for fear of losing vital ground.
Russia intervened militarily soon after to turn the tide of war, and has been helping arm and train the Syrian army.
Iran has also backed Assad, sending military advisers and allied Shiite militias from across the region to support his troops.
Over the border "we see the Syrian military, which is not satisfied with just taking over all of Syria's territory but is expressly building a broad-based, new ground army that will return to its previous proportions and beyond," Lieberman told reporters during a tour of the Golan Heights.
Israel closely monitors Syria's military capacity, as it has fought three wars against Syria, its neighbor to north, over the course of its short history.
With Assad now regaining control, Israel has voiced concern that he might defy a 44-year Golan Heights armistice treaty between Israel and Syria.
In a Twitter post, Lieberman said Israel's tanks, deployed on parts of the strategic plateau, are "our crushing strike force and will know how to defend the border in any eventuality."
In a May interview, Assad also said Syria had improved its air defenses with Russian help.
In a July 19 briefing, the chief of Israel's armored corps told reporters that while the number of Israeli tanks fielded was unlikely to grow, a new, improved tank model would be introduced in 2021.
