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Russia appears to have started pulling its forces from its naval base in Syria following the fall of the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad at the weekend, satellite imagery suggests.
One image released by US company Maxar Technologies shows the deserted Russian naval base at Tartus in western Syria on December 10.
Another, taken on December 9 by California-based Planet Labs, showed at least three vessels in Russia’s Mediterranean fleet, including two guided missile frigates and an oiler, moored about 13km north-west of Tartus. The rest of the fleet could not be immediately located in satellite imagery.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it was in contact with the new Syrian leadership over the status of its bases in the country, adding that it was monitoring the situation due to the importance of its military interests there. “We, of course, are closely monitoring everything that is happening in Syria, and we maintain contacts with those who are currently controlling the situation. This is necessary because our bases are there, our diplomatic missions are there,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian facilities and assets were protected under international law.
Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday after a lightning advance that forced Mr Assad to flee to Russia after a 13-year civil war and 54 years of his family's autocratic rule.
After the collapse of Mr Al Assad's government, the Israeli military said on Tuesday its warplanes had conducted more than 480 strikes in 48 hours on targets including anti-aircraft batteries, military airfields, weapons production sites, combat aircraft and missiles. In addition, missile vessels struck the Syrian naval bases of Al Bayda port and Latakia port, where 15 Syrian naval vessels were docked.
Israeli officials said the strikes across Syria were aimed at destroying strategic weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them from being used by rebel groups that drove Mr Al Assad from power, some of which grew from movements linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS and are listed by the US and EU as terrorist organisations.
Moscow, which was a crucial ally of Mr Al Assad's regime for decades, is now looking to make a deal with the rebels to guarantee the safety of two strategically important military bases. The country also granted asylum to the Assad family after they fled Syria. Russia has a major airbase in the coastal city of Latakia and its naval facility at Tartus.
The Tartus base is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and replenishment centre, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of Africa.
The Russian navy has maintained the base there since 1971 but it had fallen in use after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2012 usage has increased again and it became Russia’s main overseas naval base, according to Naval News, a defence and technology website.
Previously, Russia had five surface ships and one submarine at Tartus, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by BlackSky and Planet Labs.
An image taken on December 5 by US-based BlackSky showed all six vessels at the base. Satellite images from December 9 confirm reports by Russian war blogger Rybar that the warships had left Tartous and taken up position off the coast for security reasons. The fleet departed from the naval base sometime between December 6 and December 9, satellite imagery indicated.
