Tartus naval base

The Tartus naval base is a leased military installation of the Russian Navy on the northern edge of the sea port of the Syrian city of Tartus.

Established in 1971, during the Cold War, by an agreement between the Soviet Union and Ba'athist Syria, the facility supported the Soviet Navy's 5th Operational Squadron, its Mediterranean fleet.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the facility remained in limited use by Russia's Black Sea Fleet. From 2009, the facility was upgraded and expanded, including to serve the Mediterranean Sea Task Force, formed in 2013. From 2011, it was the only remaining Russian naval base outside the former Soviet Union and after 2015, the base supported the Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war. In 2017 Russia concluded an agreement with Syria, obtaining a free-of-charge 49-year lease for its ships based in the Mediterranean, jurisdiction over the base, and the ability to store nuclear weapons aboard its ships.

In December 2024, following the fall of the Assad regime, the Russian Navy began withdrawing from the base, completing this by early March 2025. The treaty allowing Russian ownership of bases in Syria was described as having been suspended but not terminated, and Russian vessels continued to use the base as a stopover point through 2025, while details of its final status was remained unclear.