Sale of arms to Assad's regime in Syria is from what I can gather 100% Russian, but suppliers are listed as:
- Russia
- Belarus
- Iran
- China
- North Korea

No mention of Britain or the USA.

The Syrian Army:
80% of the officers are Alawites (same tribe as Assad)
70% of the regular soldiers are Alawites (same tribe as Assad)
The military's most elite divisions, the Republican Guard and the 4th Mechanized Division, which are commanded by Bashar's brother, are exclusively Alawite.
Alawites make up just 12% of the Syrian population

The regime is Ba'athist (i.e modelled on the German Nazi Party mixed in with a bit a Stalinist repression)

Now does that remind of anywhere else in the region?