Standing on the gates of the Khmeimim airbase, a fighter from the Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) eyed a pink vape being puffed on by a Russian soldier. Catching his gaze, the soldier provided it to him. The bearded fighter took a drag and shrugged, giving a thumbs as much as the Russian soldier, who let him preserve it.
Simply over per week in the past, Russian jets taking off from Khmeimim airbase have been heading to northern Syria to drop bombs on insurgent teams. This week, Russians are negotiating with the identical factions, now in command of the nation after their 12-day lightning offensive that toppled the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
“We don’t feel unsafe, we are hoping to make friendly relations with the new government as soon as it becomes a legitimate government,” stated a consultant of the Russian army, who allowed the Guardian uncommon entry to the Khmeimim airbase on Sunday. The consultant stated communications with HTS began per week in the past to coordinate army affairs between Russian forces in Syria and the nation’s new leaders.
“Neither side is making provocations and things have been fine,” the Russian army consultant stated, as he gestured to bins of humanitarian assist and Russian ministry of defence-branded backpacks, which they stated have been a present from Russia to the Syrian folks.
HTS fighters guarded the gates of the airbase as Russian Mig fighter jets took off. “We used to be scared whenever we would hear the sound of a Russian jet – now it’s become normal,” Abu Khaled, a 26-year-old HTS fighter guarding the airbase stated. Exterior, Russian troopers nonetheless milled concerning the city of Khmeimim, purchasing at shops whose indicators have been written in Cyrillic.
Russian forces first entered Syria in 2015 when Assad requested their army help in opposition to opposition forces, which he had been combating since Syria’s 2011 revolution. Now their presence in Syria has been referred to as into query because the opposition take the reins of energy.
The EU overseas affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, stated on Monday that Russia and Iran “should not have a place” in Syria, and stated the bloc would increase the difficulty of Russian army bases with the nation’s new management.
HTS and Russia are on the “first step” of negotiations over if and the way Russia will keep its army bases in post-Assad Syria, an HTS official aware of the talks instructed the Guardian. Each side described the environment of the negotiations as optimistic.
Although the HTS official acknowledged Russia’s function in “bombing innocent civilians” in Syria since 2015, it appeared the insurgent group was taking a realistic strategy in direction of its relations with overseas powers. The HTS official stated there can be “no red lines” in negotiations with the Russians, which might be primarily based on “strategic interests, not ideology”.
Moscow and HTS have each made their opening strikes: Moscow provided humanitarian assist to Syria, which is mired in an financial and humanitarian disaster. This was refused, as HTS felt it had a number of overseas donors already beating on its door.
In his first public feedback since he was pressured from energy, Assad stated on Monday that his first cease after fleeing Damascus was the Khmeimim airbase, the place he claimed to have overseen fight operations between fleeing to Moscow.
The HTS official stated the brand new Syrian authorities would search the extradition of Assad, or ask him to be turned over to the worldwide legal courtroom. They added that they weren’t optimistic that Russia would grant both request.
The first purpose of HTS seems to be establishing good financial and political relations with Russia and different worldwide powers, which the HTS official stated would confer legitimacy on the brand new insurgent authorities. The official cited the hasty pullout of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021 as a lesson on what the group needed to keep away from with Russia.
To that finish, HTS has supplied safety for Russian forces over the previous few days as they moved autos and personnel from the T4 airbase in Homs, central Syria, to Khmeimim airbase and Tartous port. Columns of Russian armoured personnel carriers, tanks and pickup vehicles with the Russian flag waving and a big “Z” painted on the perimeters have stuffed Syria’s highways for the previous two days, escorted by HTS fighters.
The Russian army consultant confirmed that the T4 airbase in Homs had been utterly emptied out of personnel and tools by Saturday, in coordination with HTS. The consultant added that troops weren’t withdrawing from Syria however simply repositioning, whereas they waited for Russia’s presidency to decide about what to do subsequent.
Dwelling situations within the besieged T4 base had turn into dire within the final week, with refuse build up and meals provides rising low, in response to the HTS official – allegations on which the Russian consultant didn’t remark.
Khmeimim airbase and Tartous port at the moment are the one lively Russian bases in Syria – a far cry from the huge army footprint Moscow maintained within the nation underneath Assad.
The query of Tartous appeared simpler to resolve than the airbase, because the HTS official stated the group was open to permitting the Russians to keep up their management over the port, citing worldwide regulation as a complication for cancelling the 49-year lease of the naval facility – even when it was signed with the now deposed Assad regime.
Whether or not the Syrian folks would settle for a continued Russian presence within the nation after years of Russian jets bombing folks in rebel-held territory was one other query. “This is not a peaceful country, go look at Idlib and the liberated areas, they are all destroyed,” Abo Khaled stated, gesturing on the Russian jets taking off from Khmeimim airbase.
HTS, on its half, appears keen to show the web page on the bloody previous of the Syrian civil warfare and concentrate on pulling Syria out of its depressing humanitarian state.
“We are forced to repair relations, the country is dead, people are very poor. People are trying hard to stop the bloodshed, they would like to build a new life and move forward,” the HTS official stated.
Ziad Taweel, the top of the Latakia worldwide airport that borders the Russian airbase, stated HTS had instructed him to return to work and get the civilian airport again on-line, however he had solely been granted approval by the Russians to return on Sunday. The final civilian flight from the airport was virtually two weeks in the past and the outside of the airport was suffering from deserted military autos and bins of weaponry, although the inside was left untouched.
As Taweel inspected the airport, escorted by balaclava-wearing Russian commandos, an HTS fighter and a soldier joked. The HTS fighter, gazing at Russian Mrap army autos and planes, made certain to take some selfies with the Russian army officers, earlier than strolling off the bottom in direction of his colleagues.
