Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that the Syrian authorities are interested in maintaining Russian military bases on their territory.
"The Syrian side is interested in maintaining our military bases there. As our president has repeatedly said, we will be guided by Syria’s interests in this matter," Tass quoted Lavrov as saying. "It is clear that under the new circumstances, these bases may play a different role, not just as military outposts," he added.
"In particular, given the need to establish humanitarian flows to Africa, these may be sea and air bases serving as humanitarian hubs for sending humanitarian cargoes there, including to the Sahara-Sahel zone and other countries in need," Lavrov pointed out according to Tass.
Moscow has been in discussion with Syria's new leadership about holding on to the naval and air bases, which give it an important military foothold in the region, since its ally President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown last year.
Asharq Al-Awsat
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