Syria overview: Russia withdraws its air defenses

Russia has withdrawn its air defenses and other weapons from various areas of Syria after the fall of long-time ally Bashar al-Assad. According to media reports and information from military circles, some of them were relocated to the North African civil war country of Libya. An ex-officer under Assad told the DPA news agency that some of the facilities and tanks had been relocated to eastern Libya, which was controlled by the renegade General Khalifa Haftar. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed the withdrawal of air defense. The Wall Street Journal first reported on it, citing American and Libyan sources.

Russia kept Assad in power for years during the civil war with air strikes on his enemies. The former dictator Bashar al-Assad also fled to Moscow with his family (Read more about this here). Moscow has maintained naval and air bases in Syria for years. To date, they have been important cornerstones for Russia to exercise power in the Middle East and to secure its interests in Africa, serving as a hub for the transport of troops, mercenaries and weapons. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to want to use the eastern Libyan ruler Haftar for his own purposes and thus preserve Russian influence in the region, reported the Wall Street Journal. Haftar has been supported by the Kremlin for years.

Libya is considered a “failed state” that sank into chaos after the fall and death of long-time ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi in October 2011. For years the country has been torn between competing power centers in the West and East. In the dispute over power with the government in Tripoli in the west of the country, Haftar would benefit from better air defense and offensive weapons. According to DPA information, Western military officials have been closely monitoring for days whether Russia is expanding its presence in Libya.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Russian cargo planes recently brought equipment for the S-400 and S-300 air defense systems from Syria to eastern Libya. The fact-checking department of the British broadcaster BBC analyzed satellite images that showed a concentration of military vehicles at the Russian-controlled naval base in Tartus, Syria, and at the Khmeimim military airport.

Videos showed columns of Russian military vehicles moving north toward these two bases, the report said. Transport aircraft are said to have flown in and out of Syria in the past few days. The two bases have so far been of great strategic importance for Russia because they facilitated the country’s access to the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Recent activity at the two bases suggested preparations for a reduction or complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria, according to the US Institute for War Studies (ISW), the BBC reported. But it could also be a precautionary measure while Moscow negotiates with the new rulers in Syria about the continued use of the bases.

Air and naval bases in Libya would not fully compensate for the loss of power that Russia would suffer in Syria, the Wall Street Journal quoted analysts as saying. “In principle, Russia also has the opportunity to gain privileged access to the port of Tobruk through the eastern Libyan ruler Haftar in order to transship ammunition there if necessary,” said a situation analysis by the German Defense Ministry on December 11th, which was available to the DPA. It is estimated that there are also thousands of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group in Libya.

Wagner fighters used Haftar’s bases as a transit hub for other African countries, the Wall Street Journal reported. The warlord has been asking Russia for air defense systems for years to strengthen his influence in the divided country. However, according to the German Defense Ministry’s analysis, Haftar is fundamentally trying to maintain a balanced relationship with the West. In addition, other eastern Libyan elites are critical of excessive proximity to Russia.

Meanwhile, the Syrian leader of the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which overthrew Assad with its lightning offensive, called for the lifting of sanctions against Syria in an interview with the BBC in Damascus. His country is exhausted by war and poses no threat to its neighbors or the West, said Ahmed al-Sharaa. “Now, after all that has happened, the sanctions must be lifted because they were directed against the old regime. The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way.”

The HTS is not a terrorist group, said al-Shaara. In the interview, he denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a kind of second Afghanistan. In the country in the Hindu Kush, the Islamist Taliban established draconian rules and punishments after coming to power and deprived women and girls of virtually all educational opportunities. Syria and Afghanistan are different and have different traditions, said al-Shaara. He believes in education for women, and in some universities in the country there are more women than men.