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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting in Moscow in October 2025. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russia was moving troops and equipment out of Qamishli airport in northeast Syria on Tuesday ahead of a meeting between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Russian President Vladimir Putin, news agencies reported on Tuesday.
News agencies reporting from the Qamishli airbase on Tuesday said Russian troops were withdrawing and the base appeared to be abandoned. Russia, a key ally of the former Syrian Ba’athist regime during the 14-year civil war, has had troops stationed in Qamishli since 2019.
Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Moscow when Syrian armed groups under the current president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, overthrew his regime in 2024.
Sharaa and Putin will meet in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss future ties and the situation in the Middle East, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday.
"President al-Sharaa will meet with the Russian president to hold talks on ways to develop bilateral relations between the two countries, in addition to discussing the developments in the Middle East,” Syria’s state-run SANA cited the presidency as saying.
Russia's military presence in Syria has been sharply curtailed under Sharaa's government, with forces confined to coastal bases, naval access to Tartus port blocked and Russian companies stripped of contracts, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies reported last week.
Russia has abandoned its naval base at Tartus but retains an air base at Hmeimim under a 49-year agreement that Syria's current government has suspended.
Moscow has faced widespread distrust as it negotiated with Syrian officials to maintain its military foothold in the country, including a potential redeployment in southern Syria that Israel opposed, the institute reported. Israel has expanded its military occupation around the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria over the past year.
Sharaa also met with Putin in October, with senior Russian and Syrian defense, intelligence and diplomatic officials holding meetings in Moscow the following month.
Sharaa has grown increasingly close to Washington, which is considering withdrawing all troops from Syria as it hands over counter-terrorism responsibilities to the Syrian government. The US fought the Islamic State (ISIS) alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for a decade.
US Syria Envoy Tom Barrack is mediating talks between Damascus and the SDF to integrate the SDF into the Syrian Arab Army.
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