Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part two, Sri Lankan and Syrian users

Continuing with the Asian users of the MiG-17F, now it's the turn for two more countries: Sri Lanka and Syria.

• Sri Lanka: During the March 1971 communist insurrection that placed a left-leaning government in power, the Ceylon Air Force received five MiG-17F from the USSR. They served with the Sri-Lankan Air Force, mostly in the ground support role. After the insurgency, the country became a republic and the name was changed to Sri-Lanka. The Sri-Lankan Air Force kept the MiG-17Fs until the early 1980s when they withdrawn as they were clearly outdated.
• Syria: After the creation of the United Arab Republic in 1958, the Syrian Air Force was merged with the Egyptian one and nearly all of its aircraft and personnel were redeployed to Egypt. There, they were replaced by two squadrons of MiG-17Fs. After the dissolution of the United Arab Republic in 1961, the new Syrian Air Force - designated as Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) - was re-established later in that same year, acquiring aircraft left by the Egyptians; around 40 MiG-17Fs.
  During the Six-Days War of 1967, the SyAAF flew some strikes on Northern Israel's bases but was shortly evacuated to other air bases in remote parts of Syria, preventing this way the destruction of their Air Force on the ground just like it had happened with both Egyptian and Jordanian ones. After that war, Syria kept on buying small amount of MiG-17s from East Germany. After the Yom-Kippur War in 1973, the SyAAF suffered heavy losses, prompting the Soviets to establish an air-bridge with Damascus and, in April 1974 they received the first batch of MiG-23 which redeemed the MiG-17fs as obsolete and replaceable.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_Air_Force

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Air_Force

3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters