Syria and Russia have reached a landmark agreement ending the military use of two strategic bases that served as Moscow's primary foothold in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Syria's Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday. Under the memorandum of understanding, the Hmeimim air base near the coastal city of Latakia and the naval base at Tartus — long considered Russia's most significant military outposts outside its borders — will be converted from active military installations into joint training and qualification centres, with Syria assuming civil administration of the sites.
The deal, reached after roughly eighteen months of intensive negotiations, establishes a transition period of no more than three months for the new arrangements to take effect. Syria will take direct control of the Hmeimim airfield and the commercial fourth berth at Tartus port, integrating them into its national civil administration. In a separate announcement, the head of Syria's General Authority for Civil Aviation confirmed that Latakia International Airport — a civilian facility that had been operationally tied to the adjacent Hmeimim base during the Russian military presence — was handed over to Syrian authorities on Sunday, with technical teams beginning immediate assessments to prepare it for rehabilitation.
The agreement marks a dramatic shift in Russia's position in the region. Moscow was the principal political and military backer of former President Bashar al-Assad throughout Syria's devastating civil war, and the two bases served as critical logistics hubs for Russian operations. Assad was ousted in December 2024 when an Islamist-led armed opposition, whose prominent leader Ahmad al-Sharaa now serves as Syria's interim president, swept into the capital Damascus. Assad and his family fled to Russia, where they were granted asylum. Moscow did not intervene to save his government, and Russian troops remaining in Syria subsequently withdrew in the months that followed.
Despite the dramatic change in leadership, Syria's new authorities have pursued a pragmatic relationship with Moscow rather than an adversarial one. Al-Sharaa has visited President Vladimir Putin in Moscow twice since coming to power, with the two bases forming a central topic in discussions. The Syrian Foreign Ministry described the new deal as