Two new corps have been established since the civil war began in 2011. The "4th Corps", "4th Assault Corps", or "4th Volunteer Assault Corps", also called the Fourth Legion - Assault is a new formation of the Syrian Army, organized with Russian help since 2015. The original plan for the 4th Corps was to reorganize the weakened regular army units as well as irregular pro-government militias, including some National Defence Forces (NDF) units, in the governorates of Latakia as well as Tartus, and on the al-Ghab Plain. These forces would be trained, organized and armed by the Russian Armed Forces, so that they could become "special" ground forces which would retake northernwestern Syria with Russian air support.