Bloomberg: Russia sees Syria bases deal securing hub for Africa operations

The western Syrian port city of Tartus
Photo: AFP

The Kremlin is confident it has secured Russia’s presence at two key military bases in Syria, allowing it to project strategic influence far beyond the region, under a deal agreed with the Middle Eastern country’s new leadership, Bloomberg notes.

Russia’s navy will retain access to the Syrian port of Tartus while the Defense Ministry can continue to use an airfield at Hmeimim as a transit hub to service the Kremlin’s operations in Africa, according to a person in Moscow familiar with a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries.

The accord creates a long-term legal basis for Russia’s presence in Syria while establishing ties with transitional President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s government, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing details of the memorandum. Russia’s involvement in training Syria’s new armed forces will also help build trust between Moscow and Damascus, the person said.

Retaining the military bases in Syria is a major success for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who’s sought to preserve a strategic foothold in the Mediterranean following the December 2024 ouster of his ally Bashar al-Assad by former Islamist rebels. Russia helped Assad to flee and gave him asylum in Moscow as fighters led by Al-Sharaa swept into Damascus and claimed victory in the civil war that had raged for nearly 15 years.

Putin dispatched Russian forces to Syria in 2015 to help Assad, a military intervention that turned the tide in the war at that time. In 2017, Assad’s regime awarded Russia 49-year leases to the Tartus base and the Hmeimim airfield, agreements effectively rendered worthless by his overthrow.

Putin’s Syria intervention helped revive Russia’s position in the Middle East that had been eroded after the Soviet Union’s collapse. His inability or unwillingness to save Assad underscored how badly Russia’s military had been depleted by its war in Ukraine that’s now in a fifth year.

Tartus is the only Russian naval base in the Mediterranean and Moscow has retained a presence there since 1983 during the Soviet era. Russia set up its air base at Hmeimim in 2015, using it to bomb opposition forces.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry announced the memorandum of understanding on Sunday, saying the air and naval bases should be converted to “joint training and qualification centers” within three months, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. Damascus would manage civilian facilities at both locations, with Moscow’s presence on the Syrian coast reorganized and the pact “safeguarding the interests of both countries,” Sana reported.

By agreeing with Syrian authorities to change some of the functions of its military bases and allow parts of the facilities to be used for civilian purposes, Moscow preserved them for use in operations in Africa, according to the person in Russia familiar with the document.

Despite Putin’s support for Assad, Al-Sharaa didn’t demand an immediate Russian withdrawal from Hmeimim and Tartus, though Moscow reduced its military presence there considerably soon after the new government took over.

Syria and Russia instead spent more than 18 months negotiating a new arrangement for the facilities, with Putin hosting Al-Sharaa for talks in Moscow in October 2025 and in January this year.

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