Syria looks to end foreign military presence, have sovereignty over all bases: President

A Syrian rebel fighter (C) looks on as he stands at an inspection checkpoint for incoming vehicles before a Russian flag and Russian soldiers behind manning the entrance of the Russian-leased Syrian military base of Hmeimim in Latakia province in western Syria on December 29, 2024. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP) (Photo by AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images)

BEIRUT — Syria is looking to no longer “have any foreign military bases,” President Ahmad al-Sharaa said at an Atlantic Council event, allowing the country to have “complete and pure sovereignty of the Syrian state.”

Prior to al-Sharaa coming into power in December 2024, Russia operated from dozens of military bases in Syria, which it used to help keep the Assad regime in power. Since the regime was overthrown , the number of Russian military bases has shrank considerably, he said.

“They had around 170 military bases, and now there are only two bases,” al-Sharaa said Tuesday. “And after long discussions with them, we reached a point where we changed or we transformed those bases into training bases for the Syrian army, so they are not military bases that can oversee or provide any logistical work for operations that are launched from those bases against other countries.”

In August, Syria and Russia inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding those remaining two military bases — Hmeimim Air Base and Tartus Naval Base — to turn them into “joint training and qualification centers.”

Syria has also reduced the number of military bases owned by neighboring Turkey, al-Sharaa said, though he did not mention how many there were or how many remain. During the Assad regime, Turkey had a military presence along with observation posts in the northern and northwestern parts of Syria to protect its borders from an infiltration of terrorists and armed militias.

Those Turkish bases were not previously endorsed by Syrian parliament, but al-Sharaa said the country is looking to get “legal status” for the remaining Turkish bases because “any presence or any foreign presence should be under the endorsement of the People’s Assembly and to have a legal status.”

He added that Damascus “very soon will not have the necessity to have any military or foreign military presence, and I believe we can go through the relations, diplomatic relations, and respect with all the countries in the neighborhoods and the friends of Syria.”

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Notably, the two countries in May displayed their close defense ties when Syria participated for the first time in Turkey’s Efes military exercise .

2024年12月29日，在叙利亚西部拉塔基亚省的赫梅米姆，一名叙利亚反政府武装人员（中）站在车辆检查站前，注视着前方。照片中，俄罗斯国旗飘扬，俄罗斯士兵在俄罗斯租用的叙利亚军事基地入口处把守。（图片来源：AAREF WATAD / AFP）（图片来源：AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images）

贝鲁特——叙利亚总统艾哈迈德·沙拉在大西洋理事会的一次活动上表示，叙利亚希望不再“拥有任何外国军事基地”，从而使该国拥有“叙利亚国家完全和纯粹的主权”。

他说，在沙拉于2024年12月上台之前，俄罗斯在叙利亚设有数十个军事基地，并利用这些基地帮助阿萨德政权维持统治。自该政权被推翻以来，俄罗斯在叙利亚的军事基地数量已大幅减少。

“他们以前有大约170个军事基地，现在只剩下两个了，”沙拉周二说。“经过与他们长时间的磋商，我们最终决定将这些基地改造成叙利亚军队的训练基地，因此它们不再是能够监督或为从这些基地发起的针对其他国家的军事行动提供任何后勤保障的军事基地。”

8 月，叙利亚和俄罗斯签署了一份谅解备忘录 (MOU)，将剩余的两个军事基地——赫梅米姆空军基地和塔尔图斯海军基地——转变为“联合训练和资格认证中心”。

沙拉表示，叙利亚也减少了邻国土耳其拥有的军事基地数量，但他没有透露具体数量或剩余数量。在阿萨德政权时期，土耳其在叙利亚北部和西北部地区驻扎军队并设有观察哨，以保护其边境免受恐怖分子和武装民兵的渗透。

这些土耳其基地此前并未获得叙利亚议会的认可，但沙拉表示，叙利亚正在寻求为剩余的土耳其基地争取“合法地位”，因为“任何存在或任何外国存在都应该得到人民议会的认可，并具有合法地位”。

他补充说，大马士革“很快就不需要任何军事或外国军事存在了，我相信我们可以与所有邻国和叙利亚的朋友保持良好的关系、外交关系和相互尊重。”

世界上用途最广泛的攻击机之一正在执行反无人机系统任务。

空中力量使无人机交战距离防御资产更远，并改变了每次击杀的成本计算方式。

值得注意的是，今年 5 月，叙利亚首次参加土耳其的“艾菲斯”军事演习，两国展现了紧密的防务关系。