ocr: Having fought four wars against Israel since 1948,Syria is the Arab world's strongest military power after Egypt. There 1S n0 political mechanism to challenge the dominance of the military. With more than 400,000 troops - and - nearly 50% of. government income spent on weapons, Syria is a formidable power. The military is mostly equipped with weapons obtained from the tormer Soviet Union. During the 1980s, Syrian torces tought offa series of Israeli encroachments in the region, and also foiled Israeli attempts to controlLebanon. Syria remains the power Israel fears most.
