Russian navy assets ‘leaving’ Tartous port amid rebel offensive

Russia is reportedly withdrawing its navy assets from its strategic base in Syria’s Tartous, in a move coinciding with the rapid expansion of the opposition rebels’ offensive in the northwest of the country.

According to the Naval News website and open-source intelligence analysts, one of the vessels stationed at the base – the auxiliary Yelena –  was seen departing the facility early on Monday, suggesting that other ships could follow suit.

There are at least four naval ships and one submarine currently stationed at the facility, Naval News reported.

Yelena is a Project 160 Altay class oiler, which is vital to maintaining Russia’s force in the Mediterranean, and it is expected to return to Russia to its Baltic sea, via the Mediterranean.  

The move comes as Syrian rebels continue to advance in the country, having captured over a dozen towns and villages in the Hama governorate on Tuesday, after seizing Aleppo, Idlib and a significant number of surrounding towns.

The offensive, led by the hardline HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) group, began on 27 November in response to an uptick in Russian and Iranian-backed regime strikes targeting the country’s northwest in recent weeks. 

Some Russian military bloggers have reportedly linked the move to training exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, but the Russian ministry of defence has reportedly denied this claim.

Strategic navy base

The Russian navy base was initially built in 1971 during the Soviet Union era but fell out of use following its collapse in 1991.

In 2017, amid the civil war, the Syrian regime leased the naval facility in Tartous for the next 49 years, free of charge and with Russia’s complete sovereign jurisdiction.

The facility serves as a strategic navy base for Moscow in the Mediterranean and has been mostly used to deliver supplies to its missions in Syria and to repair warships. It also been used to serve Moscow during its invasion and conflict in Ukraine, boosting its military presence with the aim of countering direct NATO involvement. 

Moscow has also deployed forces at air and naval bases in western Syria following its intervention in 2015, four years after the start of the Syrian civil war.

The naval base is one of two permanent Russian military bases in Syria, the second being the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia.

In Syria, Russian forces have carried out strikes in retaliation to the ongoing offensive and in support of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, killing several civilians in the northwest.