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After Evacuating Tartus, Russian Flotilla Leaves Mediterranean

Sparta II
Sparta II (file image courtesy Portuguese Navy)

Published Feb 9, 2025 6:52 PM by The Maritime Executive

A Russian military convoy carrying equipment from the naval base at Tartus has exited the Strait of Gibraltar, answering the question of whether Moscow would be repatriating the military gear it had deployed to Syria over the past decade. 

In early December, U.S.-designated terror group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, driving Assad's Russian military backers to retreat to Tartus, home of the only Russian naval base in the Mediterranean. HTS did not attack Russian forces, even though Russia had bombarded HTS and its allies for most of Syria's 13-year civil war, but the Islamist group did cancel Russia's 49-year operating lease on the commercial portion of the seaport. 

As HTS advanced, Russian Navy's Mediterranean Flotilla left Tartus en masse and took up station off the coast. In January, after weeks of negotiation, the military cargo vessels Sparta and Sparta II entered the port and backloaded large quantities of military equipment and containerized cargo that had been staged on the pier. As Moscow and HTS continued high-level talks on the future of Russia's presence in Syria, the ships departed for an unknown destination - prompting speculation about possible new basing arrangements for the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean. 

Whether Russia secures an alternative base site from another friendly government remains to be seen, but this convoy - and its naval escorts, the remaining warships of Russia's Mediterranean Flotilla - appears to be headed home. Sparta and Sparta II exited the Strait of Gibraltar over the weekend, heading north towards Russia's ports in the Baltic. Given Russia's need for equipment on the battlefield, their cargoes are likely destined for the front line in Ukraine.