The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued a report about a new airstrike of the Israel Defense Forces on military equipment and weapons in the port of Tartus, Syria. It is claimed that the main targets were air defense systems and tactical missiles, other sources mention an explosion so powerful that it caused a small earthquake measuring 3 on the Richter scale.
The nuance of this situation is that satellite images indicate that some russian ships should still be stationed near their regular base in Tartus, all the while Israel is already carrying out a systematic bombing campaign aimed at Syria's military potential without any restrictions.
Read more: russia Initiates Massive Withdrawal from Syria: 2 Aircraft and 6 Ships
OSINT analyst MT_Anderson posted on his X social network profile a new satellite image of the Tartus naval base as of the morning of December 15, 2024. Despite the low cloud cover, at least two ships of the russian Navy can be recognized there: the Admiral Gorshkov frigate of the Northern Fleet and the Admiral Grigorovich of the Black Sea Fleet.
Notably, the Gorshkov was 15 kilometers from the nearest berth, meaning the russians had moved their particularly valuable ships as far away as possible from the potential area of effect of IDF attacks.
The MT_Anderson also highlights that at the moment, russian ships have not been recorded in the Libyan port of Tobruk. This location is considered a likely intermediate destination for the russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea should the Kremlin decide to give up on Tartus, a naval base that consumed a lot of time, effort, and money to create and put into operation in 1971.
Another point to consider is that it was already a second Israeli strike on Tartus which the russians in this area had to be wary of. On December 10, 2024, reports appeared of an Israeli bomb strike on this Syrian port, in the roadstead of which russian ships might be standing at the time.
A similar awkward situation has evolved around evacuation from another strategic base in Syria, the Khmeimim Air Base. A rather revealing video appeared on social networks demonstrating the takeoff of a russian Il-76 transport aircraft convoyed by a Ka-52 helicopter patrolling the area around the airfield.
There is a stark parallel between these actions and the activities of Soviet troops in Afghanistan when they had to cover transport aircraft on takeoff from a possible MANPADS attack. This illustrates how the pace of evacuating russian military personnel from Syria depends not only on the number of air transport available but also on the capacity to provide necessary security measures.
In that regard, according to the recent update from Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, currently russian armed forces have used a total of three Il-76MD and two An-124-100 airlifts for evacuation from Syria.
Read more: Israeli Forces Strike Base in Tartus, Where russian Ships May Still Be Present
