Al-Sharaa meets Putin as Russia seeks to secure military bases in Syria

Al JazeeraCenterEN 2 min read 100% complete by Al Jazeera StaffJanuary 28, 2026 at 02:42 PM

AI Summary

short article 2 min

In January 2026, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss Russia's military presence in Syria. The meeting follows the 2024 ousting of Bashar al-Assad, a former Kremlin ally, by al-Sharaa's rebel forces. Russia aims to maintain its influence in the Middle East by securing its military bases at Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base, its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union after withdrawing from Qamishli airport. While al-Sharaa has adopted a pragmatic approach to relations with Russia, a point of contention remains Russia's sheltering of al-Assad, who fled to Moscow after the uprising. Al-Sharaa has repeatedly requested al-Assad's extradition, but the Kremlin has not indicated whether it will comply.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Qamishli airport 40% Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ×240% Moscow ×350% Dmitry Peskov ×250% Tartus naval base 60% Hmeimim airbase 60% Kremlin ×570% Bashar al-Assad ×470% Vladimir Putin ×280% Ahmed al-Sharaa ×690% Russia ×590% Syria ×590%

Keywords

syria 100% russia 90% military bases 90% al-sharaa 80% military presence 80% bashar al-assad 70% kremlin 70% tartus naval base 60% hmeimim airbase 60% extradition 50%

Sentiment Analysis

Neutral

Score: -0.10

Source Transparency

Source

Al Jazeera

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

syria russia military bases al-sharaa military presence bashar al-assad kremlin tartus naval base hmeimim airbase extradition

Explore Full Topic Graph