Poor area surrounded by soldiers (4)
I believe the answer is:
mean
'poor' is the definition.
('mean' can be similar in meaning to 'poor')
'area surrounded by soldiers' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'surrounded by' is an insertion indicator.
'soldiers' becomes 'men' (I've seen this before).
'a' going inside 'men' is 'MEAN'.
(Other definitions for mean that I've seen before include "Signify; stingy" , "Base; tight" , "Far from noble" , "Paltry" , "Petty" .)