New satellite photos from the Tartus naval base on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea show Russian Navy ships anchored off the coast of Syria after abandoning Moscow’s only overseas naval base. Photos also show the destruction of Syrian Navy missile boats at the in Latakia.
According to photos from satellite provider Maxar, three Russian Navy guided-missile frigates and at least two support ships were in port in Tartus on Dec. 5. On Tuesday, those ships had left port and at least two of the Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates were operating off the coat of Syria. The base had been home to two Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates, an Admiral Grigorivich-class frigate and an improved Kilo-class attack boat, according to Naval News.
The Gorshkov and Grigorivich frigates are the most modern surface ships in the Russian fleet. Both are capable of fielding the long-range Kalibir land attack missile and the Tsirkon hypersonic anti-ship missile.
Tartus has been a key base for Russian power projection in the Mediterranean, providing a logistics hub for naval forces aboard. Built by the Soviets in the early 1970s, the base was seldom used after the Cold War until Russian forces invaded Crimea in 2012. Russian forces were key to supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. After that, Tartus hosted ships that were used for Russian presence operations during the early days of the invasion of Ukraine. Tartus and the Russian air base in Latakia have been key hubs to support Russian operations in Africa.
The departure of the ships is part of an overall Russian withdrawal from Syria following the toppling of the Bashar al-Assad regime by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham – a group that evolved from al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate.
Photos from Maxar also show the purported Israeli attack on Syrian missile boats at the naval base in Latakia, about 50 miles north of Tartus. The imagery shows sunken Osa-class missile boats that were armed with SS-N-2C Styx surface to surface anti-ship cruise missiles. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the IDF attacked the remnants of the Syrian fleet in port on Tuesday. Defense minister Israel Katz said the Israeli Navy conducted the attack.
“The IDF (military) has been operating in Syria in recent days to strike and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel. The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success,” Katz said during a visit to Israel’s primary naval base in Haifa on Tuesday.
