{"id":726900,"date":"2026-01-28T18:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T18:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/726900\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T18:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T18:45:23","slug":"syrian-leader-meets-putin-as-russia-eyes-deal-on-military-bases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/726900\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian leader meets Putin as Russia eyes deal on military bases"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW \u2014 Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of military bases vital for its operations in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Russia was a key ally of Sharaa\u2019s predecessor Bashar al-Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war.<\/p>\n

His toppling at the hands of Sharaa\u2019s rebel forces dealt a major blow to Russia\u2019s influence in the region and threw the status of its prized military bases in Syria into doubt.<\/p>\n

Putin has been working to build relations with Sharaa since, though Russia\u2019s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife in Moscow remains a major obstacle to improving ties.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch has been accomplished in terms of restoring our interstate relations,\u201d Putin said in a televised meeting with Sharaa.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have closely monitored your efforts to restore Syria\u2019s territorial integrity and I want to congratulate you on the momentum this process is gaining,\u201d Putin said, apparently referring to Sharaa\u2019s recent offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria\u2019s northeast.<\/p>\n

Sharaa, in his second meeting with Putin since coming to power, said Russia had a \u201chistoric role not only in Syria\u2019s unity and stability, but in that of the entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither mentioned Russia\u2019s military presence in Syria, though Putin\u2019s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier he had \u201cno doubt\u201d the issue would come up in their talks.<\/p>\n

Russia has two remaining military outposts in the country, the Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base on Syria\u2019s Mediterranean coast.<\/p>\n

They are Russia\u2019s only two official military bases outside the former Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Syria has expressed a willingness to cooperate with Moscow, though it has repeatedly demanded that Russia extradite Assad.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Sharaa as \u201chighly respected\u201d and said things there were \u201cworking out very well.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tIs accurate Israel coverage important to you?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If so, we have a request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every day during the past two years of war and rising global anti-Zionism and antisemitism, our journalists kept you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fact-based<\/strong> coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We care about Israel – and we know you do too.<\/strong> So we have an ask for this new year of 2026: express your values by joining The Times of Israel Community<\/strong>, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles<\/strong> in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work.<\/strong> We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community<\/strong>. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE<\/strong>, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOSCOW \u2014 Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow on Wednesday, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332],"class_list":{"0":"post-726900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115974211225260174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}