Click to see full-size image (Syrian Foreign Ministry)
Syria and Russia have reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to reorganize the Russian military presence at the Khmeimim air base and Tartus naval base on the Syrian coast following about 18 months of negotiations, the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced on August 9.
In a statement carried by the state-run SANA news agency, the ministry said Syria will assume management of civilian facilities, including Khmeimim Airport and the fourth commercial berth at Tartus port, gradually integrating them into the civilian administration system as part of the deal with Russia.
Military bases and facilities will undergo a functional transformation, with the two sides agreeing to convert them from military bases into joint training and qualification centers under new arrangements designed to preserve their mutual interests, the ministry added.
The memorandum sets a maximum three-month timeframe to complete the transition, after which the new arrangements will take effect.
The ministry described the agreement as “the most significant development” since negotiations began about a year and a half ago, saying it opens the way for a new phase in Syrian-Russian relations.
Syria’s General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs said in a separate statement that under the deal, the Syrian side would take over commercial sites previously operated by Russia at Tartus port, including Berth No. 4, warehouses and associated facilities.
Meanwhile, Syrian Civil Aviation and Air Transport Authority head Omar al-Hosary said on X that the authority had taken control of Latakia International Airport in western Syria and begun technical and operational assessments of its facilities and systems ahead of preparing a rehabilitation plan and restoring the airport to operational readiness.
SANA released videos showing Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani touring both bases, accompanied by a Russian military delegation.
The Khmeimim air base and Tartus naval base are the two main pillars of Russia’s military and logistical presence in the Middle East.
Right after the fall of the regime of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the Russian military withdrew much equipment from Khmeimim and Tartus, including the S-400 air defense system that was covering the entire Syrian coast. However, since then, there has been no additional pullback from the bases.
Both bases remain fairly active. A Wall Street Journal report in June revealed that the Russian Navy has quietly resumed resupply operations at the Tartus naval base. Meanwhile, the Khmeimim air base further north remains active, serving as a logistics link between Russia, the Middle East, and Africa.
The Syrian announcement of a deal with Russia came as a surprise, as just days earlier Reuters reported that the country is planning to significantly reduce Russian oil imports in a bid to encourage the U.S. to remove it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Although the nature of the deployment will somewhat change, the deal appears to allow Russia to keep both Khmeimim and Tartus.
Still, the Syrian Foreign Ministry’s description of the deal as an MOU indicates that a final agreement is yet to be signed with Russia.
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it would be better to leave syria ( now under nato hands through turkey), and to build such bases in lebanon.
russia should build a military base in gaza, and slowly steal land from israel.
russia loves isreal just as most other countries in the world. thats why russia acively prevented iran to have bases anywhere close to isreal during the syrian war. iran is probably the only country on the planet that would want to help gaza, and they are paying the price for this.
the word “steal” should be replaced with “take back”, but yeah that’s a great idea.
the usa and israel wont allow it. and putin is still too much of a jew lover to ever do what it takes to stop the zionists entirely from stealing more land. the russian air defenses and russian jet escorts were not activated in the crucial moment in december 2024 when iranian air transport reinforcements needed russian support to safely reinforce the army to fight the rebel advance. the war with iran could have been prevented as well as the r change.
iranian and pmu units who came from iraq though abu khamal were bombed by israel and the usa from jordan airbases. with a russian air umbrella those units could have reinforced aleppo and the homs fronts and prevented the collapse. this shows the amount of influence the jews have over the russian leadership.in ukraine we have 2 yarmukle wearing wailing wall humpng leaders fghting over land. and the jews celebrate with russian and ukranian flags dancing at our demise.
after a green light from the settlers of course. you know, gotta be all “legal” looking – international law and all that, the way ‘we support israel’ pootin likes it.
you’re wrong.
syria is under kikeroach hands, through the mossad/cia = isis puppet jewlani.
lebanon will be under joint turkish, syrian and isreali influence for the time beeing. i dont think after they let syria fall, anyone will let the russians build a base there in the mediteranian.
i think a nato base in azerbeidschan is more realistic that a russian base in the mediteranian.
russians already have bases in the mediterranean, nato has only hopes in azerbaijan…
we will see. i have the feeling that some of those drones hitting russias souths are not just flying through azeri air but launched there.
the bases in syria serve as a logistical hub for russian and wagner operations in africa. they have new bases in lybia as well both serve their african and south american operations. the bases in syria wont be entirely disabended and the new syrian leadership understands they need workable relations with the russians if they want to keep israel away from grabbing as much of syrian land as it wants. it makes them less then 100% rely on the turks.
yemen would be good. build a base their
man i miss the early days of the war. where ukrainian units shot up unarmoured russian convoys to pieces. captured and brutally tortured russian pow’s, with their blood spilled all around them and their body disfigured. i also miss ukrainian units calling the family of russian pow’s and taunting them: we need to bring this back on the russian orcs.
i think this is the real reason why the prisoner exchanges are so onesided the west told ukrain to not exchange those they tortured and not give back the bodies they maimed. so they dont have many to give back. i do not think for a moment they stopped doing it. just stopped calling cause it may cause bad pr.
what happened to the syrian christians who fled there will there be handed over to the butchers?
how long until ukraine and isreal use the civilian berth of tartus?
is russia still alowed to have air defences there of will they be defenceless if hts descides to send a drone swarm again like during the war.
that issue with the refugees at khmeimim base was covered initially, but quickly binned.
any comments here that questioned the fate of these people were censored on this site. one had to vaguely allude to the location and issue with no specific referencing. still a mystery, but why so ?
de que serve a presença russa lá? o país inteiro foi entregue a terroristas. al assad devia ter ficado em damasco e ter morrido como um mártir. seria mais honroso para ele.
você precisa reabastecer a suas naves, por enquanto o tratado é mais logística que diplomacia. a síria e terra de ninguém, entregada ao norte a turquia e ao sul a israel. mais a rusia precisa ter presença naval no mediterrâneo. você precisa olhar o syria porquê agora as potencias regionais vão precisar de ter control. a rusia foi fora e a israel e os estados unidos ficaram dentro.
these leverage points still exist. what does all this means for the regions future. i wager russia would rather be doing other things
russia is trying to keep some foothold in syria no matter what the new ruler of that land is israel and their master usa. the exceptionals breed will try to populate syrian land with their brethren and control their economy and resources. the old playbook of controlling servant state is applying to syria. turkey won’t loose grip on the north. you should analyze syria into the bigger picture, before any power change in the middle east, look for syria that will be like the thermometer in the me.
‘syria and russia have reached a memorandum of understanding ‘.
well, i suppose some russkies turned up. any syrians at all ? – oh wait, new script.
muwaiyan blood is back under thier grandfather hands. this hypocrite muslim who destryed prophet family and tried to destroy islamic value . this are the worst enemy of islam this hypocrite whabhi kwarajite son will pay the price soon.
the christians need a place to flee to when the head choppers get board and are looking for some victims
ru left syria fall, like she did with armenia, venezuela and soon with cuba. the consequences: less influence in the world and less influence on your own faith