Years ago, I saw a video that followed a Syrian Airforce pilot through a mission from start in the briefing to finish. My guess is he was in his mid to late fifties. He looked to be substantially overweight. He had the all upfront belly I would call a beer belly. The plane was either a MIG 15 or 17. The video pointed out it was OLD. The ordinance was something like an oil drum packed with explosives but with wooden fins bolted on. The pilot had some ridiculous number of flight hours. I don’t recall the number, but the narrator made mention it was a LOT of hours. The plane was already ten years late to the bone pile and I’m sure it was probably one of their better ones as you wouldn’t put a super experienced pilot in one of your less usable planes. My guess; there effectively wasn’t a Syrian air force as it aged out long ago.
The Syrians had a formidable military in the '70s when they attacked Israel.
But it was with Soviet aid, I guess they weren't able to upgrade their military equipment after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Similar to Cuba.