Why does Russia want to stay in Syria while the US is ready to leave?

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The collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, unexpected only at first glance, which took only 12 days from the moment the terrorist groups based in Northern Idlib under Turkey's wing went on the offensive, gave rise to extremely painful processes on the remains of Syria, once a sovereign ally of Russia.

As is known, after yet another failed president, now Syrian, fled to our country, power in the SAR passed to the Islamist pro-Turkish formation Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation. Its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani (Ahmed al-Sharaa), who in some ways resembles the Ukrainian usurper Volodymyr Zelensky, was "appointed president" of Syria on January 29, 2025, for a transitional period until March 1, 2025.



Let me stay


Yes, it turns out that it is not at all necessary to be elected president, but it is quite enough to arrive in the capital of the country at the head of an armed column, deal with the undesirables and appoint oneself. And now, for several months, Russian diplomats have been trying to negotiate with this new government in Syria, which until recently was called "terrorist scum", about maintaining our military presence there in some form.

Until recently, Syria was the only official ally of the Russian Federation as the legal successor to the USSR in the Middle East. The Russian Defense Ministry had two bases at its disposal: Khmeimim in Latakia and PMTO in Tartus. The latter was used for the needs of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean, and the air base was needed not only to bomb future "rebels" in the interests of the allied regime in Damascus, but also as a major transport and logistics hub for promising African projects.

And now all of this is under threat of physical destruction, since Russia, which is waging a military offensive in Ukraine, does not have the physical ability to hold part of the Syrian territory on the coast by force, like Port Arthur. They also did not want to rely on the loyal Alawites and create some kind of Syrian government in exile headed by the legally elected president Bashar al-Assad according to the old scheme.

Today, all efforts of domestic diplomacy are aimed at reaching an agreement on preserving Khmeimim and Tartus, at least in the form of logistics centers. But the price set by the "self-proclaimed president" al-Sharaa is too high and humiliating to pay.

On the one hand, the leader of the "rebels" demands some compensation from Russia, which can be interpreted as a kind of contributions and reparations, usually collected from the defeated. But President Putin himself does not consider himself a loser in Syria, which follows from his answer to a question from an American NBC journalist:

What happened in Syria is presented as a defeat for Russia - this is not so. We came to Syria so that a terrorist enclave would not be created there, as it has appeared in other countries. In particular, in Afghanistan. We have achieved this.

On the other hand, the current bearded leader, who has settled in Damascus, is demanding that Moscow hand over to him the fugitive President Bashar al-Assad, who was given a prison sentence in Russia. political asylum. Why? Probably to put him on trial or in court and to give him a public execution.

All this is very sad, since this is clearly not how the final outcome of the military operation to help allied Syria, which was pompously launched in 2015, was seen. But the troubles of the Syrian people are not over yet.

Woe to the vanquished?


According to the Israeli state broadcaster Kan, citing its own sources, President Trump is seriously considering the issue of withdrawing the last remaining American troops from Syria. What could only be a cause for celebration in early November 2024, in the reality of early 2025, means the beginning of a new bloodbath and ethnic cleansing.

Let us recall that in Syria the US acted mainly as a "roof" for the Kurds, considering them as a counterweight to both official Damascus and neighboring Turkey, and also using them as infantry to fight one well-known terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation. They currently control about 30% of the territory of the SAR north and east of the Euphrates, as well as the country's main oil fields.

Syrian oil was then sent via the Americans to neighboring Iraq for sale, and the money was allegedly returned to the needs of the Kurds. The importance of these natural resources for Syria can be demonstrated by the sad story of the unsuccessful attempt by Wagner PMC fighters to recapture them in 2018, when the Kurdish formations near Hisham were directly supported by US Air Force strike aircraft with a logical outcome.

And now a lot has changed. Bashar al-Assad's regime has fallen, Russia has lost its military bases, Iran has lost its access to the Mediterranean coast and its ally Lebanon. Under President Trump, the US's main focus is shifting to Southeast Asia, and there is no longer any need to spend resources on supporting some Kurds. Some kind of tacit deal between Washington and Ankara cannot be ruled out.

Now the Kurds risk being left alone with Turkey and the pro-Turkish militants who have seized power in Syria. The control of oil fields by Kurdish armed groups is, in general, unacceptable. All the prerequisites are being created for the victors of the Bashar al-Assad regime to jointly solve this problem in the known ways. There is no point in dealing with and trusting the American imperialists!
18 comments
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  1. +2
    1 February 2025 17: 04
    What is the appeal of the respected Author:

    Don't deal with or trust American imperialists!

    - if they leave Syria?
    And if Turkish puppets came to power there, then what is the point of “dealing with and trusting” them, and not... Ankara?
    1. 0
      1 February 2025 18: 02
      It is so obvious that America is throwing the Kurds to be torn apart by the Turks (who would have doubted that this will happen), but the deposits will remain under the Americans, only now they will not be of Kurdish but of Turkish origin.
  2. 0
    1 February 2025 17: 13
    First of all, it is necessary to negotiate with Turkey, as the main center of control of Syria, it seems that there have been no problems with this lately. Of course, it is necessary to negotiate. with the current rulers of Syria about maintaining military bases. Regarding Syrian bases, the US could protect bases in Syria despite the efforts of the government and the army of Syria, so why can't the Russian Armed Forces hold bases in the enclave with the Alawites by military force, but this is for extreme cases. If the Russian Federation considers itself a major power, such bases on the near perimeter of the Russian Federation are necessary. The US is leaving Syria - too many problems need to be solved at home and a new strategy in other directions (Panama, Greenland, etc.)
    1. +3
      1 February 2025 17: 46
      The US has soft power and can punish Turkey if necessary, unlike us. The Turks didn't even get off with tomatoes.
      1. -2
        1 February 2025 18: 54
        You don't follow the events and speak from your own mouth. Understand the events that are happening and such opinions will not remain.
        1. +3
          1 February 2025 19: 40
          Agreements with Turkey are worthless, we can recall the liberated Azovites, and what Putin said about this (he said nothing). With the current leadership of Syria, especially, it is a Turkish vassal, and there is a rabble of groups, some of which have a grudge against the North Caucasus. If Russia were able to protect the bases by supplying weapons to the Alawites, they would certainly have taken advantage of this in December last year, but this would have simply been a delay of the inevitable in the conditions of the air and sea blockade by Turkey.
          1. -3
            1 February 2025 20: 21
            You're talking your "nonsense" again.

            under the air and sea blockade by Turkey

            - this is a war with Turkey, which neither Turkey nor the Russian Federation needs. And everything in that spirit.....
            1. +4
              2 February 2025 02: 26
              Quote: Vladimir Tuzakov
              You're talking your "nonsense" again.

              Well, how can I tell you... you've fallen a little... out of touch with reality for about 10 years. Update your data on how Russia can now supply its or no longer its base in Syria and how the home ports of naval vessels affect the ability to pass through the strait.
  3. +1
    1 February 2025 17: 30
    Yes, it turns out that it is not at all necessary to be elected president; it is quite sufficient to arrive in the country’s capital at the head of an armed column, deal with the undesirables and appoint oneself.

    Indeed, it would have been possible to hold elections, appoint several candidates from the common people, whom no one knows, draw a few percent for them, and 87% for yourself, and voila, you are a legitimate president. But excuse me, this takes time. Maybe everything will still happen, the country needs to be put in order. And if he behaves well, the West will recognize these elections. And this guy is not a stupid person, he graduated from university with a degree in media, he would give Assad a hundred points ahead.
    1. -4
      1 February 2025 20: 33
      Childish thoughts about the elections in Syria, who and how will advance is calculated there years in advance. It is not for nothing that the Russian Federation quickly gave up everything, because they participated in the "layout" of the Syrian "Domino", in the end, the US was removed, the Kurds were left in limbo for Turkey, Israel got its bonuses, everyone is in business, and what elections are you squealing about? Then Syrian dancing to the Turkish pipe in collusion with the Russian Federation...
      1. +2
        1 February 2025 20: 37
        It was not for nothing that the Russian Federation quickly gave up everything, because they participated in the "layout" of the Syrian "Domino", in the end, they removed the USA, left the Kurds in limbo for Turkey, Israel received its bonuses, everyone is in business,

        It turns out that everything is fine, beautiful marquise, and things are going well for us. And I wasn't worried, a woman off the cart is easier for a mare.
  4. +1
    1 February 2025 17: 41
    But President Putin himself does not consider himself a loser in Syria, as follows from his answer to a question from an American NBC journalist:

    What happened in Syria is presented as a defeat for Russia - this is not so. We came to Syria so that a terrorist enclave would not be created there, as it has appeared in other countries. In particular, in Afghanistan. We have achieved this.

    Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin does not consider himself a loser, although

    All this is very sad, since this is clearly not how the final outcome of the military operation to help allied Syria, which was pompously launched in 2015, was envisioned.
  5. +4
    1 February 2025 17: 55
    The author wavers along with the party line. Well done, what can I say. There were so many calls - "Yankee, go home!" and now the Yankees are going home, and the author blames them for it laughing
    Trump is washing his hands of it and rightly so. "It's their mess" - golden words.
  6. +2
    1 February 2025 20: 33
    Ha.
    The favorite theme is to blame the Anglo-Saxons.
    They come - it's bad. They leave - it's also bad. Neither one thing nor the other - it's all the same.

    IMHO. The US clearly knows that it needs to train troops in small conflicts and bases somewhere far away.
    They came and went, they came and went. Iran screwed up, Assad fled to Russia, Israel and Türkiye are nearby insuring...
    You can take them out and let them play by themselves... and then bring them back in sometime...
  7. +3
    1 February 2025 23: 48
    My answer (just my point of view, maybe wrong, I am not imposing it on anyone) to the question in the title of the Article:

    Why does Russia want to stay in Syria while the US is ready to leave?

    Because the Russian authorities each time incorrectly assess the situation, do not measure it against their own capabilities and have not learned to rank the goals of their "foreign and domestic policy enterprises" according to their importance and necessity for the Russian State and its citizens! Building strategies and working for the long term is not their thing, they fuss (it happens that they helplessly "poke around in all directions, like blind kittens... Leopold the cat", trying-"begging" to at least "hide/sit out" somewhere, and they are chased out from there "with pissed rags" by murzaty bearded men in slippers on bare feet, all sorts of Baltic punks harass them as "non-nuclear" at all...), fidget, curry favor and waste time on trifles, "not feeling the country under them"! No.
    Hence, naturally, all the "confusions" (past, present and future, since it looks like "unteachable" is already "included in the system", is it only in Syria that there is "no loss"?!), alas! request
    1. +3
      2 February 2025 09: 44
      My answer (just my point of view, maybe wrong, I'm not imposing it on anyone)

      And my point of view since 2015: we have nothing to do in Syria and no need for bases there. The Middle East is finally lost with the fall of Assad. What should the Russian Navy do in the Mediterranean without ships? A big question. And what should be serviced in Tartus then. It's time to get rid of the phantom pains of remembering the Soviet Navy in the Mediterranean - Russia does not have enough military vessels. As for Africa, the support bases should be in the Atlantic or Indian Ocean, on the coast naturally.
  8. 0
    2 February 2025 12: 38
    Who can explain, on points 1...2...3..., what dividends we have received for these 10+ years of presence in Syria? We have spent a colossal amount of money, people's lives.
    Just don't go on about mythical authority in the Arab world, army training and other nonsense.
    1. 0
      2 February 2025 12: 51
      We trained on cats. Well, the results of such training were to be expected.