Ossetia (Ossetic: Ирыстон (Iryston); Russian: Осетия, (Osetiya); Georgian: ოსეთი (Oset'i)) is an ethnolinguistic region located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians, an Iranian people who speak the Ossetic language (an Eastern Iranian language). The Ossetic-speaking area south to the main Caucasus ridge is within the de jure borders of Georgia but is largely under the control of the Russian-backed de facto government of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia. The northern portion of the region consists of the republic of North Ossetia-Alania within the Russian Federation.

Recent history
For earlier history, see Alans

In the last years of the Soviet Union, ethnic tensions between Ossetians and Georgians in Georgia's former Autonomous Oblast of South Ossetia (abolished in 1990) and between Ossetians and the Ingush in North Ossetia evolved into violent clashes that left several hundreds of dead and wounded and created a large tide of refugees on the both sides of the border.

Map of North and South Ossetia.Although a Russian-mediated and OSCE-monitored ceasefire was implemented in South Ossetia in 1992, the Georgian-Ossetian conflict still remains unresolved even though a recent peace plan proposed by the government of Georgia promised the South Ossetians larger autonomy and pledged expanded international involvement in the political settlement of the conflict. Meanwhile, the South Ossetian secessionist authorities demand independence or unification with North Ossetia under the Russian Federation while the international community refuses to recognize South Ossetia as an independent country and considers the area part of Georgia.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/georgia/index.html:

Georgia Army
Relatively little of the military industry of the Soviet Union was located in Georgia. One Tbilisi plant assembled military training aircraft that were the basis of a small Georgian air force. Most weapons obtained by the various armed units operating in Georgia after 1990 apparently were purchased illegally from Soviet (and later Russian) officers and soldiers stationed in the Caucasus.

....
In early 2002 the United States launched a two-year, $64 million program, "Train and Equip," to create three battalions and one motorized company meeting NATO standards. Following the successful conclusion of that program in 2004, a follow-on initiative was launched with comparable funding to train a further 4,000 Georgian servicemen.

The armed forces were downsized from approximately 38,000 men to some 20,000 in early 2004, mainly through reductions in ancillary, noncombat personnel. When he was appointed defense minister in early 2004, Gela Bezhuashvili said the armed forces would be further reduced, to around 15,000 men.

Georgia launched an ambitious program in the fall of 2004 to train 15,000-20,000 reservists. By late October, three battalions of reservists had been established. These battalions underwent intensive basic training over a period of several weeks. Plans called for a total of 15 to be trained by the end of 2005. Irakli Okruashvili, who took over as defense minister in December 2004, said while visiting Washington in June 2005 that it may be necessary to increase the number of personnel. This might be done by adding one more brigade to the existing four.

In its report for 2005, Georgia's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) noted that previous reviews identified a total strength of 13,000-15,000 active-duty personnel as an optimum for the Georgian armed forces. A four-brigade structure, along with an increased reserve force, represent an increase of 25-30 percent on earlier planning figures in the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) agreed with NATO in 2004.

Observers suggested that the rationale for reversing the downsizing of recent years was to launch a new military offensive to bring the unrecognized breakaway Republic of South Ossetia back under the control of the Georgian government.

In addition to upping manpower, Georgia greatly increased its defense spending, from 79 million laris ($43 million) in 2004 to 317 million laris in 2005. The increase was consistent with the requirement that countries aspiring to NATO membership spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense.

The weaponry purchased reportedly includes armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, helicopters, and T-72 tanks. The latter three items called into question earlier statements that Georgia has no aggressive intentions and plans to strengthen its armed forces exclusively for defensive purposes, to repel any external invasion. These weapons are well suited for an offensive against the Ossetians. From mid-June to mid-July 2005, some 800 Georgian troops conducted large-scale tank exercises using some 170 battle tanks. One year earlier, Georgia had only 76 T-55 and T-72 tanks.

Georgia had succeeded, with assistance of the United States, Turkey, and other allies, in transforming the paramilitary National Guard into a trained, disciplined, and well-equipped fighting force qualified for NATO membership.

And from Wikipedia:

Land Forces

Equipment
Main battle tanks
T-72B1 - 59 units
T-72M - 75 units
T-72AB - 71 units
T-55AM - 40 units

AIFVs/APCs
BMP-1 - 80 units
BMP-2 - 120 units
BTR-80 - 75 units
MT-LB - 64 units
BRDM-2 - 17 units
Otokar Cobra - 100 units

Towed artillery
2A36 Giatsint-B - 12 units
2A65 Msta-B - 18 units
2A18 (D-30) - 120 units

Self-propelled artillery
2S7 Pion - 12 units
2S19 Msta-S - 3 units
2S3 Akatsiya - 26 units
VZ 77 Dana - 47 units

Multiple Launch Rocket Systems
M-87 Orkan - 4 units
RM-70 - 48 units
BM-21 Grad - 120 units
LAR-160- 15 units
M-63 Plamen – 12 units

Mortars
2B11 120 mm - 240 units
M-38/43 120 mm - 365 units
M75 120 mm – 250 units

Land Forces constitute the bulk of the GAF. Land Forces of Georgia consists of the following units:

1st Infantry Brigade, located in Gori
2nd Infantry Brigade, located in Senaki
3rd Infantry Brigade, located in Kutaisi
4th Infantry Brigade, located in Vaziani
5th Infantry Brigade, located in Khelvachauri (temporary distribution place) and Khoni
Artillery Brigade, located in Gori and Khoni
Military Engineering Brigade, located in Gori
Separate Light Infantry Battalion, located in Adlia
Separate Tank Battalion, located in Gori
Separate Air Defense Battalion, located in Kutaisi
Communication Battalion, located in Saguramo
Technical Reconnaissance Battalion, located in Kobuleti
Military Police Battalion, located in Tbilisi
Medical Battalion, located in Saguramo
The strength of Land Forces is 21,739 from which 2,215 are officers, 19,508 NCOs (contracting) and 16 civilians.

AIR FORCE
The Georgian Air Force consists of the air force and the air defense.

The main missions of the air forces are: to control and defend air space of Georgia; conduct air intelligence and surveillance; provide support to the Armed Forces other Services; conduct air evacuation and search and rescue operations; air movement of personnel and military cargo transportation. The strength of Air Forces is 1,813 military and civilian personnel.

Equipment
Aircraft
22 Su-25KM
13 Su-25UB
12 MiG-25
4 Su-24
18 MiG-21
11 L-39
2 L-29
Helicopters
1 Mi-35
19 Mi-24P
21 Mi-24V
18 Mi-14
16 Mi-8
6 Bell 212
40 UH-1H
2 Mi-2

Air Defence
15 SA-11
38 SA-3
18 SA-8
35 ZSU-23-4
15 S-60
40 MT-LB with towed ZU-23-2

National Guard

Georgian National Guard was established on December 20, 1990 and was manned by volunteers. It represents the first Georgian armed formation, which became the base of the foundation for modern Georgian Armed Forces. The Guard actively participated in the conflicts existed on the Georgian territory (Samachablo, Abkhazia).

The National Guard consists of 20 554 personnel; the main missions of National Guard are:

Support civil government in crisis situations (natural, technological, ecological);
Register mobilization recourses, study and deliver;
Convene, select and man of citizens on the basis of the agreement, for the units, subunits and bases of the Armed Forces;
Provide ceremony activities.

CIA WORLD FACTBOOK:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gg.html

The region of present-day Georgia contained the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Kartli-Iberia. The area came under Roman influence in the first centuries A.D. and Christianity became the state religion in the 330s. Domination by Persians, Arabs, and Turks was followed by a Georgian golden age (11th-13th centuries) that was cut short by the Mongol invasion of 1236. Subsequently, the Ottoman and Persian empires competed for influence in the region. Georgia was absorbed into the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Independent for three years (1918-1921) following the Russian revolution, it was forcibly incorporated into the USSR until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. An attempt by the incumbent Georgian government to manipulate national legislative elections in November 2003 touched off widespread protests that led to the resignation of Eduard SHEVARDNADZE, president since 1995. New elections in early 2004 swept Mikheil SAAKASHVILI into power along with his National Movement party. Progress on market reforms and democratization has been made in the years since independence, but this progress has been complicated by two ethnic conflicts in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two territories remain outside the control of the central government and are ruled by de facto, unrecognized governments, supported by Russia. Russian-led peacekeeping operations continue in both regions.