Russian convoy not allowed to enter Syria’s Tartus naval base

11 February, 2025 Russian convoy in Syria. February 2025. Photo credits: Yirmidort Tv

The Syrian transitional government's Ministry of Defense did not allow a Russian military convoy to enter the Tartus naval base. The Turkish TRT media outlet reported on this. The convoy of 30 vehicles with missile weapons, which left the day before in the morning from the Hmeymim air base in Latakia province, was stopped at a checkpoint in Tartus.

After waiting for eight hours at the checkpoint, the Russians were forced to return to the Hmeymim base around 5:00 p.m. local time. The Turkish media notes that this incident occurred amid recent statements by Murhaf Abu Qasra, Minister of Defense of the Syrian transitional government, that the preservation of Russian military bases will depend on their benefits for Syria: "If we benefit from it for Syria, then yes."

Russian convoy in Syria. February 2025.

Photo credits: Yirmidort Tv

The Russian military has been using the Khmeimim Air Base since August 2015 under an agreement with the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia with his family in early December 2024.

An empty military site of the port of Tartus. Source: Radio Liberty

Last month, the Russians began the process of evacuating their troops from the Syrian port of Tartus. Radio Svoboda published the relevant satellite images in late January.

The photos showed the loading of property and equipment onto the cargo ships of the "Syrian Express" Sparta and Sparta II, which belong to the Russian company Oboronlogistika. Militarnyi previously reported that Sparta II entered the military unit of the Syrian port of Tartus on January 21. The new Syrian government also terminated an investment agreement with a Russian company to manage the port of Tartus, which is Russia's only foreign naval base.

Tartus naval base

With the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2012, the Russian Navy began active use of the base.

It was modernized to accommodate large displacement ships.

After the outbreak of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the base became an important hub for the Russian Navy's military presence in the Mediterranean.