Syrian Islamists Allowed Moscow to Use Military Base 0 6

Russian military aircraft have resumed flights to the Khmeimim airbase in Syria after a six-month break. This occurred following the visit of the Syrian transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa to Moscow.

According to Bloomberg, a Russian military transport aircraft Il-62M arrived at the Latakia airfield from Libya on October 26 and then departed for the Moscow region. Additionally, from October 24 to 29, three flights to Latakia were made by the cargo plane An-124-100 'Ruslan'.

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and the current leader of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa took place on October 15. The latter stated that he would respect the agreements signed by Russia with the previous Syrian regime. The resumption of flights was confirmed by an anonymous source close to the Kremlin, as reported by Bloomberg.

On October 28, a meeting was held between the defense ministers of Russia and Syria, Andrei Belousov and Mahraf Abu Qasra. The head of the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that "contacts between our political leaders and contacts between the military departments are substantive, fruitful, and have great prospects." During the meeting, the parties discussed issues related to the implementation of "promising areas of bilateral cooperation."

These negotiations took place less than two weeks after the visit of the transitional president of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa to Moscow, who had previously indicated that the issue of Russian bases in Khmeimim and Tartus remains on the agenda. He met with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, and during the meeting, the future of Russia's military presence in Syria was also discussed, reported Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

However, following the negotiations between the two leaders, the fate of the Russian bases was not resolved, reported Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani on October 18. The parties discussed the revision of agreements, including on this issue, he said. The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, in turn, stated that Syria and Russia were conducting closed negotiations "in the context of possible reformatting of the functions of Russian military facilities."