Russian presenter Sergey Badyuk has partaken in a very informative discussion on Kalashnikov rifles in use by various Syrian groups within Assad controlled portions of Syria. He is a prior Russian serviceman himself and certainly knows his rifles. Now obviously, we can’t accept the information portrayed here as complete truth when it comes to small arms in use by Assad’s SAA. However, this is a somewhat legitimate open source outlet that allows us to peer into Assad’s forces.

Some key takeaways-

Occasionally magazines are wrapped together with tape to form an extra magazine in case of an emergency reload, in addition to wood grips being wrapped in cloth to protect hands from heat, less slippery grip, it also breaks up the outline.

The majority of soldiers that Sergey has seen, walk around without safeties on, either in a USMC Condition One or Three status.

Russian manufactured Dolg M3 Tactical Slings have found their way into use within the Syrian Army. Not much, but the AKMS Sergey was presenting had one. This one appeared NiB.

5.45x39mm AK74s are apparently being sent to Police units.
A majority of ammunition is Russian or Iranian manufacture.

Sergey says Syria used to manufacture magazines, but that Chinese ones are abundantly in use. In this sentence he might actually be talking about rifles themselves due to translation errors.

Soviet AKMs are sought after from other countries, while AKS74Us are highly prized as status symbols.

Despite the ruggedness of the Kalashnikov and PK actions, in his opinion as a former NCO, many of the weapons are in horrible operating condition
This is him in Aleppo filming a completely different segment for Anna News.