Bloomberg: Russia is negotiating with the new government in Syria to keep military bases there

Russia will soon make a deal with the new Syrian government to keep its two most important military bases in the Middle East.

Bloomberg writes about this with reference to sources.

The talks are that the Russians want to stay at the naval port in Tartus and the air base in Khmeimim. The Russian source added: The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation believes that it has an unofficial agreement with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, which led the offensive against the Assad regime.

The naval base in Tartus is Russiaʼs only hub in the Mediterranean. And the air base is used for operations in Africa, where Russia exerts political and economic influence.

The fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assadʼs regime effectively canceled a 49-year lease on the bases that Russia received in 2017 — two years after Putin bolstered Assadʼs military forces.

The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria

Active clashes between the rebels and Syrian troops began on November 27. The offensive was launched by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces in "response to months of continuous attacks on civilians" by the Assad regime in Aleppo province. It was the heaviest fighting in northwest Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.

On December 1, the media reported that the Assadʼs Forces had lost control of Aleppo for the first time since the start of the military conflict that began more than a decade ago. As of December 8, the Syrian opposition was already in the capital Damascus. The countryʼs prime minister is preparing to hand over the functions of the transitional government to her.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Bashar al-Assad left the post of president of Syria and left the country, adding that he gave the order to transfer power peacefully and before that held negotiations with the participants in the conflict. Now Assad and his family are in Russia and have received political asylum.

• On December 10, the Main Intelligence Directorate (known as GUR) of Ukraine reported that the Russians were leaving Syria, loading the remnants of the troops on ships and planes.

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