Russia Pulling back but Not Out of Syria, Sources Say

A Russian soldier is seen near the Nasib border crossing with Jordan in Deraa, Syria July 7, 2018. REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki
A Russian soldier is seen near the Nasib border crossing with Jordan in Deraa, Syria July 7, 2018. REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki
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Russia Pulling back but Not Out of Syria, Sources Say

A Russian soldier is seen near the Nasib border crossing with Jordan in Deraa, Syria July 7, 2018. REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki
A Russian soldier is seen near the Nasib border crossing with Jordan in Deraa, Syria July 7, 2018. REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki

Russia is pulling back its military from the front lines in northern Syria and from posts in the Alawite Mountains but is not leaving its two main bases in the country after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, four Syrian officials told Reuters.

The ousting of Assad, who along with his late father, former President Hafez al-Assad, had forged a close alliance with Moscow, has thrown the future of Russia's bases - the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and the Tartous naval facility - into question.

Satellite footage from Friday shows what appeared to be at least two Antonov AN-124s, among the world's largest cargo planes, at the Hmeimim base with their nose cones open, apparently preparing to load up.

At least one cargo plane flew out on Saturday for Libya, a Syrian security official stationed outside the facility said.

Syrian military and security sources in contact with the Russians told Reuters that Moscow was pulling back its forces from the front lines and withdrawing some heavy equipment and senior Syrian officers.

But the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Russia was not pulling out of its two main bases and currently had no intention of doing so.

Some equipment is being shipped back to Moscow as are very senior officers from Assad's military but the aim at this stage is to regroup and redeploy as dictated by developments on the ground, a senior Syrian army officer in touch with the Russian military told Reuters.

A senior opposition official close to the new interim administration told Reuters the issue of the Russian military presence in Syria and past agreements between the Assad government and Moscow were not under discussion.

"It is a matter for future talks and the Syrian people will have the final say," said the official, adding that Moscow had set up communication channels.

"Our forces are also now in close vicinity of the Russian bases in Latakia," he added without elaborating.

The Kremlin has said Russia is in discussions with the new rulers of Syria over the bases. Russia's defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Reuters reporting.

A Russian source who spoke on condition of anonymity said discussions with the new rulers of Syria were ongoing and Russia was not withdrawing from its bases.

Reuters was unable to immediately ascertain how Syrian opposition leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - saw the long-term future of the Russian bases.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose 2015 intervention in the Syrian civil war helped prop up Assad when the West was calling for him to be toppled, granted Assad asylum in Russia after Moscow helped him to flee on Sunday.

BASES

Moscow has backed Syria since early in the Cold War, and had recognized its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West long regarded Syria as a Soviet satellite.

The bases in Syria are an integral part of Russia's global military presence: the Tartous naval base is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and resupply hub, with Hmeimim a major staging post for military and mercenary activity in Africa.

Russia also has eavesdropping posts in Syria which were run alongside Syrian signals stations, according to Syrian military and Western intelligence sources.

The Tartous facility dates from 1971, and after Russia intervened in the civil war to help Assad, Moscow was in 2017 granted a free of charge 49-year lease.

Yoruk Isik, a geopolitical analyst based in Istanbul who runs the Bosphorus Observer, said that Russia was probably sending cargo planes out of Syrian via the Caucasus, and then on to the Al Khadim airbase in Libya.

On the highway linking the Hmeimim air base to the base in Tartous, a Russian convoy of infantry fighting vehicles and logistics vehicles could be seen driving toward the air base, a Reuters journalist said.

The convoy had stopped due to a malfunction on one of its vehicles, with soldiers standing by the vehicles and working to repair the issue.

"Whether it’s Russian, Iranian or the previous government who was oppressing us and denying us our rights ... we don’t want any intervention from Russia, Iran or any other foreign intervention," Ali Halloum, who is from Latakia and lives in Jablah, told Reuters.

At Hmeimim, Reuters saw Russian soldiers walking around the base as normal and jets in the hangars.

Satellite imagery taken on Dec. 9 by Planet Labs showed at least three vessels in Russia’s Mediterranean fleet - two guided missile frigates and an oiler - moored around 13 km (8 miles) northwest of Tartous. 



Israel Threatens to Step up Gaza Strikes

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Threatens to Step up Gaza Strikes

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)

Israel warned Wednesday that it will intensify its strikes in Gaza if Hamas keeps up its rocket fire, as Palestinian rescuers reported dozens of deaths from Israeli strikes on the first day of the New Year.

Over the past week, Palestinian fighters have repeatedly fired rockets at Israel, particularly from northern Gaza, where the Israeli military is conducting a major offensive.

The rockets have caused little damage and have been fired in far smaller numbers than in the early stages of the war, but they have been a political blow for the Israeli government after nearly 15 months of fighting.

"I want to send a clear message from here to the heads of the terrorists in Gaza: If Hamas does not soon allow the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza... and continues firing at Israeli communities, it will face blows of an intensity not seen in Gaza for a long time," Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

His warning came after a visit to the Israeli town of Netivot, which was recently targeted by rocket fire from nearby Gaza.

Palestinian fighters are still holding 96 hostages seized during their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and successive rounds of negotiations for their release and a ceasefire have all failed.

Israeli strikes continued across Gaza on Wednesday.

"The world welcomed the New Year with celebrations and festivities, while we witnessed 2025 begin with the first Israeli massacre in the town of Jabalia just after midnight," Gaza's civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

"Fifteen people were martyred and more than 20 were injured" in the strike on a house where displaced people were living, he said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strike.

Since October 6, the military has been conducting a major land and air offensive in northern Gaza, particularly targeting Jabalia and its adjacent refugee camp.

The military says the operation is aimed at preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping in the area.

But on Monday UN human rights experts said the "siege" appears to be part of an effort "to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza's annexation".

Bassal said those living in the house were members of the Badra, Abu Warda and Taroush families who had sought refuge there.

Nearly all of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once since the war began on October 7 last year.

"The house has turned into a pile of debris," said Jibri Abu Warda, a relative of the victims, adding that the strike hit at around 1:00 am (2300 GMT Tuesday).

"It was a massacre, with body parts of children and women scattered everywhere. They were sleeping when the house was bombed," Abu Warda said.

"No one knows why they targeted the house. They were all civilians."

- Fear of cold -

Women wept over shrouded bodies in the morgue of the Al-Mamadani Hospital, some of them those of children.

"We don't want aid, we want the war to stop. Enough with the bloodshed! Enough!" said Khalil Abu Warda, another relative.

The Israeli assault, which began on October 6 in Jabalia, has since expanded across the north of the territory.

On Friday, the military raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, emptying it of its last staff and patients.

The army said it had killed more than 20 suspected combatants and detained more than 240, including the hospital's director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, it described as a suspected Hamas fighter.

"Around me there's nothing but rubble and destruction. People don't know what to do, don't know where to go. And they don't know how to survive," said Jonathan Whittall, a UN aid official in a video released after he visited the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza.

The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals as command centers, an allegation the group denies.

A report published Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Office said "insufficient information" has been made available to substantiate "vague" Israeli accusations of military use of hospitals.

Two further Israeli strikes in Gaza on Wednesday killed another 10 people, rescuers said.

The bombardment piled further misery on displaced Gazans already struggling to keep warm amid wintry conditions.

"For three days, we haven't slept out of fear that our children would fall sick because of the winter, as well as fear of missiles falling on us," said one displaced woman, Samah Darabieh.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year, resulting in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 45,553 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.