Russia’s relationship with Syria has significantly changed since the fall of Assad [Getty]
Syria and Russia have agreed to restructure Moscow’s military presence in the country, with Damascus taking greater control over facilities at Hmeimim and Tartous as the two sides redefine ties following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
The agreement came as footage from Hmeimim showed Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and other officials walking ahead of Russian personnel during a tour of the facility, prompting comparisons with a widely shared 2017 clip in which Assad was physically stopped from following Russian President Vladimir Putin at the same base.
Under the new arrangement, Syrian authorities will assume control of civilian facilities at Hmeimim and commercial facilities at Tartous, while Russian military sites are to be reorganised as joint training and qualification centres during a three-month transition period.
The deal follows months of negotiations over the future of Russia’s presence in Syria after Assad’s government collapsed.
Russia intervened militarily in Syria in 2015 and became Assad’s most important military backer, using Hmeimim as the centre of its air operations and Tartous as a naval foothold on the Mediterranean.
But Anton Mardasov, a Russia and Syria specialist at the Middle East Institute, told The New Arab that Moscow’s military position in the country had already been significantly reduced before the latest agreement.
“The partial reconfiguration of the bases has already taken place,” he said. “These facilities have long ceased to perform military functions and, even more so, no longer provide any capacity for regional deterrence.”
Mardasov said Russia withdrew almost all of its major weapons systems from Syria to Russia or Libya as early as January 2025, including S-300 and S-400 air-defence systems.
As a result, he said, Moscow can no longer use Hmeimim and Tartous to project military power across the region as it did under Assad, including through the temporary deployment of strategic aircraft.
Russia nevertheless has strong reasons to retain access to Syria.
“For Russia, the main objective is to continue using the Syrian airfield as a transit hub on the way to Africa and to secure the conditions for maintaining a long-term presence there,” Mardasov said.
Damascus has continued to allow Russian personnel to use Hmeimim as a transit point for cargo bound for Africa, where Moscow maintains military and political interests.
The new arrangement could also allow Russia to retain influence through cooperation with Syria’s armed forces.
Mardasov said Russian participation in training Syria’s new army would allow Moscow to “keep its finger on the pulse of developments” and provide a counterweight to Turkish influence.
He added that this was also in the interests of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government.
The footage from Hmeimim has meanwhile been widely shared as a symbol of the changed relationship between the two countries.
In the December 2017 footage, Assad was stopped by a Russian serviceman as he attempted to follow Putin towards a group of Russian troops at Hmeimim.
The 2017 incident was widely seen as emblematic of Assad’s dependence on Moscow, with the Syrian dictator appearing subordinate to Russian personnel at a base on Syrian soil after Russia’s military intervention had become crucial to his government’s survival.
By contrast, Sunday’s images showed Shaibani and other Syrian officials leading the delegation through the facility as Russian personnel walked behind them.
The visual reversal comes as Moscow adjusts from its former role as Assad’s dominant military patron to a more restricted presence negotiated with Syria’s new authorities.
