ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised “efforts to restore Syria's territorial integrity” during a meeting with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, indicating Russian support for Syria following its seizures of Kurdish-held areas.
"We have closely monitored your efforts to restore Syria's territorial integrity, and I want to congratulate you on the momentum this process is gaining," Putin was quoted as saying during a press conference with Sharaa at the Kremlin.
The two leaders met amid reports that Russian troops were withdrawing from an airbase in Syria's Kurdish city of Qamishli on the Turkish border, where they were stationed since 2019. Qamishli and other Kurdish-majority areas were facing a humanitarian crisis and fears of a Syrian army offensive, despite a ceasefire with Syrian government pledges to not enter Kurdish autonomous areas known as Rojava after seizing other Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria.
Putin and Sharaa were expected to discuss Russia’s economic ties and military presence in Syria, where Russia retains key bases from its alliance with former Bashar al-Assad who lives in exile in Moscow. While neither Putin nor Sharaa addressed military bases during their press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said they would discuss “all issues related to our military's presence in Syria.”
Syrian sources told Reuters that Sharaa's agenda with Putin included extending Russia's military presence at Tartous and Hmeimim bases, reducing the impact of spillover violence if strikes are conducted on Iran, and securing Russian involvement in southern Syria as a buffer against Israel’s expanding occupation around the Golan Heights.
The sources also said Sharaa would seek assurances that Moscow will prevent exiled Assad loyalists from organizing insurgent attacks, particularly in coastal areas that are strongholds of the Alawite minority who ruled Syria for decades.
The meeting was the second between Putin and Sharaa, whose first meeting in October was followed by meetings with senior Russian and Syrian defense, intelligence and diplomatic officials in Moscow.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Sharaa welcomed Russia's role in supporting Syria's unity as Damascus brings territory and resources under central government control. The military offensives have triggered fighting and a humanitarian crisis in autonomously-held Kurdish areas along with international fears of an Islamic State (ISIS) resurgence.
The Syrian Arab Army earlier this month seized key oil infrastructure and cities, including Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, that Kurdish-led local governments and security forces had controlled since defeating ISIS in 2019.