Jets scream overhead and soldiers drop down into gun turrets – outside Russia’s military base in Syria
I knew we were near a Russian military base when I could read the names of shops, cafes and pharmacies written in Russian, in surrounding villages.
The Russians have been permanently based here since 2017, propping up the Assad regime and overseeing the war against their many opponents. And the local communities have benefitted financially from their presence.
But for how long this will all last is apparently the focus of talks between Moscow and the new government in Syria because they may not stay.
For now, though, what we do know, is that Russian convoys are withdrawing from bases across Syria and are heading for the Mediterranean Coast.
Syria latest: US ‘in contact’ with rebel group
Main entrance to Russia’s Hmeimim military base in Syria
On a dusty road near the main Russian entrance to Hmeimim air base near Latakia, I could see a convoy of Russian military vehicles trundling their way past the Russian-named shops.
They were armoured fighting vehicles, troop carriers, armoured police trucks, and supply lorries, some marked with the letter ‘Z’ – synonymous of course with the war in Ukraine.
Russian military vehicles wait to enter Hmeimim air base
But this is a war that is over.
The Russian soldiers onboard the vehicles basically tried to ignore us, or simply drop down into the gun turrets to avoid being filmed.
Above us, a Russian helicopter gunship constantly patrolled the area in bright blue skies, occasionally passing a huge white observation blimp – a constant presence at all major military bases the world over.
Jets would occasionally scream overhead, some landing, some taking off, while transport planes, some of the largest in the world, taxied to and fro on the airstrip.
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It’s a busy base and it appears to be getting busier – the convoys have been arriving for the last few days.
The entrance to the civilian airport, which shares the runway, is now guarded by HTS fighters. They were relaxed, sitting next to pick-up trucks with high-calibre machine guns mounted on the back.
HTS soldiers guarding military airport
I asked one of the soldiers on duty, Zakaria Harir, what his orders were, and if they had any contact with the Russians inside.
“The location of this airport is very important, and that’s why we’ve received orders to be here,” he told me.
“As soldiers, we don’t have any contact with them [the Russians], but there might be coordination between them and the country’s military council.”
Nobody knows what is going to happen to the Russians, but at the very least they are reported to be withdrawing to Russia’s two main bases on the coast, one of which is the Hmeimim base.
A Syrian tank loaded on a lorry by HTS fighters
On the road to Latakia, along the same route some of the Russian convoys take, the sheer number of destroyed or abandoned Syrian army military vehicles – tanks, rocket launchers, trucks, and armoured vehicles, and troop carriers – is quite astounding. It goes on for mile after mile after mile.
Some are burnt out and riddled with bullets, and it’s clear that despite the speed of the rebel advance, there were major exchanges of fire here. As we drove, we could see low-loader lorries backing up to tanks on the main highway.
HTS soldiers were using bulldozers to push the tanks on board, and the tanks appeared to be in working order.
HTS soldiers in the town near the Hmeimim air base
A soldier told me they had simply been abandoned by retreating Syrian army tank crews or had broken down. They were taking the tanks away to workshops to be fixed – some they said just need new batteries, others just needed an oil change.
It feels like they are building a new Syrian army, taking over and using the equipment of the old one.
The regime is gone, and its main supporter’s soldiers are drawing down. Syria is changing at breakneck speed – just a week ago it was a war.
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
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Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
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Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
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