Russia woos Syria with trade offer to keep its military bases as US withdraws from West Asia: Report

As the United States is withdrawing from the world stage, Russia is wooing the new Syrian regime to maintain foothold in the country, according to a report.

In the wake of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, Russian presence in the country was not assured. In the Syrian Civil War, Russia was on the opposite side of the country’s new rulers, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) of Ahmed al-Sharaa, and there were indications that Russia was withdrawing from the country. Satellite footage and media reports showed Russia transferring its vessels, aircraft, and personnel out of the country to Libya and elsewhere.

However, as US President Donald Trump has started reducing the country’s international footprint and there is no clarity of his stand on Syria, Russia has found an opening and entered into negotiations with the HTS for not just keeping its military bases but expand economic and trade ties, according to Wall Street Journal.

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For decades, Russia has run the Khmeimim airbase in the Latakia city in the province of the same name and a naval base in Tartus city in the province of the same name. The bases have been huge assets to Russia. The Tartus naval base allowed Russia to project power along the southern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) in the Mediterranean Sea and essentially connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea, allowing a maritime route to connect Russian operations in Ukraine with activities in West Asia and Africa.

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For nearly a decade, Russia and HTS were on the other sides of the Syrian Civil War. In 2015, Russia intervened directly on behalf of Assad to turn the tide of the war in his favour. Russia attacked the HTS for years and such attacks continued right up to the lightening HTS-led assault late last year that ousted the decadeslong rule of the Assad dynasty.

With Assad’s ouster from Syria, there were signs that Russia was also on its way out of the country. Russia had started shifting assets from Syria to Libya in the wake of Assad’s ouster. However, three reasons have led to Russia seeking a foothold in the country again.

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One, Trump has aligned the United States with Russia so there is no US challenge to Russia in Syria — or anywhere else. Two, Trump has not outlined a stand in Syria or West Asia so Russia is filling the vacuum. Three, the HTS is expanding its ties beyond its principal supporter Turkey that also helped its decisive assault last year.

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As an outreach to the new Syrian regime, Russia has already started its outreach.

As Saudi Arabia and Qatar did not provide funds to Syria, Russia last month provided $23 million in Syrian currency to Syria’s central bank to support the country’s cash-starved economy when other countries refused to do so due to fear of sanctions, according to Walls Street Journal.

The Damascus and Moscow are in negotiations for a host of deals, such as the injection of billions of dollars in cash in the Syrian economy, investments into oil and gas fields, investments into ports for export, and keeping the Khmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base, as per the Journal.

The newspaper reported that negotiations began when Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev engaged the new Syrian regime regarding retaining the Khmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base but later expanded to trade and investments listed above.