Russia's retreat: Strained exit from Syria's Tartus port
The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the Russian-backed dictator of Syria, has led to Russia needing to evacuate its military presence from the country. To achieve this, in addition to airlifting the most valuable equipment, Russia has dispatched ships to Syria to remove the remaining assets.
Russian ships Sparta I and Sparta II, after a lengthy delay, finally received permission from the new Syrian authorities to dock at the port of Tartus. Satellite images as of December 2024 indicate that approximately 175 various military vehicles were assembled there for evacuation.
Russia's struggle to secure permission to enter the port is particularly notable given that in 2019, Russia signed an agreement with the previous Syrian administration, leasing the port of Tartus for 49 years.
This agreement is now null, and the Syrian authorities have terminated Russia's lease of the port. This means that Russia is losing its only naval base in the Mediterranean Sea, which allowed it to maintain a constant fleet presence in the region.
Russia is losing a base in the Middle East
The scale of the challenge for Russia in deploying ships and vessels on extended voyages is illustrated by the fact that only Sparta II reached the port without incident. The ship Sparta I encountered a malfunction en route and was drifting along the coast of Spain, but the issue was subsequently resolved.
The Russians also dispatched the landing ship Alexander Otrakovsky, which is experiencing a fuel leak problem. Another Russian ship, not part of the evacuation mission, Ursa Major, carrying components for the new Russian icebreaker, sank in the Mediterranean Sea following an explosion.
The most valuable equipment, such as the S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft systems, was evacuated from Syria earlier. It was transferred to Libya, which agreed to accommodate Russian equipment and personnel by providing them with the Al-Khadim base.
