Hey Mark
I’m learning too! 🙂

Thanks a lot for your extensive response to my questions. I am still reading. You’ve attended to my education on this region and I appreciate the effort.

I had posted this map link in a previous posts- It shows all the bases and posts of all the players in Syria

https://jusoor.co/storage/posts/ckeditor/upload/images/Map%20of%20the%20military%20bases%20and%20posts%20of%20foreign%20forces%20in%20Syria-01%281%29.jpg

It showed all bases and outposts of all players in Syria
Russian outposts in Manbij
Kobane ( Ayn Al Arab)
Sarrin

If Russia moved from that area- they are getting out of the way of the Turks and Kurds (US)
which will be an inter NATO conflict (though Turkey and the US have been at odds for a long time now)

The military base is the Khmeimim Air Base? Assuming?
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-833414

“Syrian military and security sources in contact with the Russians told Reuters that Moscow was pulling back its forces from the front lines and withdrawing some heavy equipment and senior Syrian officers…. sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Russia was not pulling out of its two main bases and currently had no intention of doing so.”

Some equipment is being shipped back to Moscow as are very senior officers from Assad’s military but the aim at this stage is to regroup and redeploy as dictated by developments on the ground, a senior Syrian army officer in touch with the Russian military told Reuters.

So, regroup and redeploy?

map here
https://www.dw.com/en/fate-of-russian-military-bases-in-syria-remains-open/a-71027207
Tried to see if there was another base elsewhere, but, no luck- Could it be a small out post rather than an actual base?

I do not believe there was any agreement between Turkey and Israel regarding the fall of Assad. But lots of, as always, spin. – There was a so called expose on Turkey supplying gas to Israel via Azerbaijan- I looked into it and the investigative journalist that allegedly did the digging- BTC pipeline. (Baku, Tiblisi, Ceyhan)

The piece and the journalist IMO are promoting disinformation- the journalist is very suspect (looked into affiliated NGO’s- lo and behold NED was one!)
Author’s NGO
https://www.ecpmf.eu/support/journalists-in-residence/jir-alumni/metin-cihan/
Funding link
https://www.ecpmf.eu/about/finances/
EU Commission and the NED among others
Notice how unconcerned this NGO is with dead Palestinian journalists? At the time I did some digging there was zero information on soo many killed Palestinians.

BTC, pipeline is controlled by British Petroleum, unsurprisingly.
Most spreading this story missed the most important info:

Pipeline operator British Petroleum (BP) is the largest shareholder in the BTC.

“BTC agreements appear to obligate Turkey to maintain the flow of oil through the pipeline even in cases of conflict or terrorism. At the same time, Turkey receives only $0.80 per barrel of oil loaded onto tankers at Ceyhan, he said.”

Contracts obligate Turkey to maintain oil flow, BP runs the show.

Israel is expanding as it wanted. The US and it’s Kurdish allies steal the oil, wheat, and other resources

Turkey backed fighters, last I’d read had taken back the Tishreen Dam from the PKK/YPG- the protests saw the PKK/YPG fire live ammo on them
Many of those fighters backed by Turkey are Syrian Arabs. They were cleansed from their homes when the US bombed NE Syria particularly brutally.
The US bombing of Raqqa was a war crime, IMO. I’d written quite a bit about it at the time it took place

Hi Mark
Mixed messages is the name of the spin game-
I’ve not seen anything on Russians abandoning the port or the base
Ukraine is spinning that angle

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/12/15/7489188/
“Problems with drinking water and food were reported at these facilities, as well as on Russian ships in the region.

While also reporting
“The aggressor state’s remaining forces are waiting for the military transport aircraft involved in the evacuation, which is expected to carry food. On 14 December 2024, two An-124-100 and two Il-76MD flights were scheduled from Chkalovsk to Khmeimim.”

If military transport is bringing food and water as of yesterday, it seems to me that Russia should be in control of their facilities still

https://www.intellinews.com/russia-withdraws-equipment-from-syrian-bases-but-not-abandoning-them-in-new-deal-talks-with-hts-reuters-358424/

Control of the Tartus port seems to be still in Russian hands

Some may want to go back? Some won’t.
Syria is going to be in turmoil for many years to come.
Sadly.