Syria said on Sunday that it reached a deal with Moscow on the fate of Russia's two bases in the country, which it once used to provide military support to ousted leader Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war.
Issued on: 10/08/2026 - 06:56
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Syria's official SANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying that Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base, Russia's only two official military bases outside the former Soviet Union, would be turned into "joint training and capacity-building centres, within new arrangements that preserve mutual interests". The memorandum of understanding, which followed a year and a half of negotiations, "set a time limit of no more than three months to complete the process", SANA added.
A Russian navy missile ship 'Veliky Ustyug' sails off from the Russian naval facility in Tartus, Syria, on patrol in eastern Mediterranean, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko
