Iran and Hezbollah have been accused of building a 50,000-strong force to help Assad The number of soldiers in Syria’s army has dropped below 50,000, according to a recent report by UK’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)."From a notional strength of 220,000, the army has withered to a core of about 50,000 that the regime can actually rely on," the report says.
"The regime can only be certain of the loyalty of the mainly Alawite Special Forces, Republican Guard and elite 3rd and 4th Divisions - perhaps 50,000 troops in total," added the IISS.
Meanwhile, reports put opposition fighters in the Free Syrian Army at 200,000.
The news comes as earlier in the month Israeli military sources accused Iran and Hezbollah of building a 50,000-strong parallel force in Syria to help prolong the life of the Assad regime and to maintain their influence after his fall.
Israeli sources also revealed t that forces from Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard are already operating in Syria, working alongside militias from Iraq in the conflict against Syrian opposition groups.
Although regime forces are expected to be outnumbered, many commentators believe Assad’s government still possesses superior weapons compared to the rebels.
However, a recent article published in the US newspaper, The New York Times, claimed that the US intelligence agency, the CIA, is in the process of arming the Syrian rebels.
This information comes in the wake of additional reports that the US and European government are also training Syrian opposition fighters in special camps located in Jordan.
In recent months, US President Barack Obama's administration has continually refused to arm the Syrian opposition, restricting aid to "non-lethal" weapons.
The Free Syrian Army has repeatedly called on the international community to arm them in the conflict against Assad’s regime.
France and Britain has been particularly keen to lift the embargo banning EU countries from arming the FSA, however protests by other EU nations means only field equipment has been allowed into the country. These include a recent British shipment of equipment that can be used by the opposition to test for the presence of chemical weapons.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US government confirmed that the NATO alliance will not be providing weapons to the FSA, saying the organisation refuses to “intervene in the conflict