国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Russia to withdraw majority troops from Syria, keep two bases_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Russia to withdraw majority troops from Syria, keep two bases

The Tartus port in northwestern Syria, established in 1977, is currently Russia's sole support facility in the Mediterranean.

Also in a January deal, Syria allowed Russia to keep its naval facility in Tartus for at least 49 years and agreed to expand and overhaul the maintenance infrastructure there.

The deal allows Russia to deploy up to 11 warships, including nuclear-powered combat vessels, in the Tartus base.

Russia started to participate in the anti-terrorist operations in Syria in September 2017 and began gradually reducing its military presence after brokering a nationwide truce among the warring factions in the Middle East country at the end of 2016.

In a symbolic move, Moscow withdrew its sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in January, leaving air forces to back Syrian government troops.

Last month, Putin told visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Russian military operations in Syria were coming to an end, and the focus would shift to a political process.

A day after the surprise meeting with Assad, Putin hosted a summit with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts and they agreed to start a political process to end the six-year civil war in Syria.

The three countries are preparing for a Syrian National Dialogue Congress. Seven rounds of Syrian talks have already been held in the Kazakh capital of Astana, a parallel process to the Geneva negotiations sponsored by the United Nations.