Russia confirmed on Thursday that it’s speaking immediately with the opposition events now in cost in Syria to take care of its army bases within the nation after the autumn of its ally Bashar al-Assad final Sunday.
The Interfax information company quoted Russian Deputy Overseas Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as telling journalists late on Thursday that Moscow has established “direct contact” with the political committee of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that led the offensive in Syria beginning in late November.
Bogdanov famous that the talks are “continuing in a constructive trend.”
Russia plans to maintain its naval base in Tartous and the Khmeimim air base close to the port metropolis of Latakia, each on the Mediterranean coast, to proceed the battle towards the Islamic State, he defined.
“The bases are nonetheless there,” he added. “No different choices have been made for the second.”
“They had been there on the Syrians’ request with the goal of combating terrorists from ISIS. I’m continuing on the idea of the notion that everybody agrees that the battle towards terrorism, and what stays of ISIS, just isn’t over,” he continued.
Bogdanov additional expressed hope that HTS will fulfill its guarantees to take care of order and make sure the safety of overseas diplomatic missions in Syria.
Sources primarily based in Moscow and with information of the matter earlier revealed to Bloomberg on Thursday that Russia and HTS had been in talks to maintain the army bases in Syria.
In accordance with the identical sources, the Russian Protection Ministry believes there may be an “casual understanding” with the Syrian group to permit Russia to stay in Syria. However the supply warned this might change at any second given the instability in Syria.
HTS has not commented on the reviews.
On Nov. 27, a number of opposition teams led by HTS launched a shock assault from rebel-held Idlib within the northwest towards Aleppo, which had been in authorities palms since 2016. Inside the span of simply 10 days, the rebels captured Aleppo, Hama and Homs earlier than reaching the capital Damascus on Sunday and declaring the autumn of the Assad regime that had dominated the nation for greater than 5 many years.
Assad and his household fled Syria because the rebels superior towards the capital and sought refuge in Moscow, in keeping with Russian state media.
The next day, a bunch of males raised the Syrian revolution flag on the Syrian Embassy in Moscow.
رفع #العلم_السوري الجديد على مبنى السفارة السورية في العاصمة الروسية pic.twitter.com/sDUpqjs5H0
— القبس (@alqabas) December 9, 2024
“As we speak the embassy opened and is working usually below a brand new flag,” an embassy consultant informed Russia’s state information company TASS on Monday.
From the time the civil struggle erupted in Syria in 2011, Russia offered unwavering assist to the previous regime. In September 2015, it formally entered the struggle, offering air assist to Assad’s forces towards the opposition. Russia’s army intervention helped Assad regain a lot of Syria’s territory in recent times.
With the autumn of Assad, Russia has grown involved about its position and army presence within the area.
The bases in Syria are Russia’s solely army outposts within the Center East.
Constructed by the Soviet Union in 1971 and expanded in 2017, the Tartous naval base grew to become a strategic level for Russia’s operations within the Mediterranean. Russia’s different base in Syria is the Khmeimim airbase, which it established in 2015 as a part of its army intervention within the nation.
Satellite tv for pc photos by satellite tv for pc supplier Maxar appeared to point out Russian warships leaving the port in Tartous on Tuesday, the US Naval Institute Information reported.
In the meantime, different photographs taken on the identical day confirmed exercise persevering with in Khmeimim, with two jets seen on the tarmac.
