By Reade Levinson
LONDON (Reuters) – Satellite imagery show that Russian naval ships have left Moscow’s base at Tartous on Syria’s coast and some have dropped anchor offshore following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces.
An image taken on Dec. 9 by Planet Labs showed at least three vessels in Russia’s Mediterranean fleet, including two guided missile frigates and an oiler, moored around 13 km (eight miles) northwest of Tartous. The rest of the fleet could not be immediately located in satellite imagery.
In Moscow, Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday after a lightening advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and 54 years of his family’s autocratic rule.
Moscow, which was an ally of the Assad regime for decades, is now scrambling to make a deal with the rebels to guarantee the safety of two strategically important military bases.
Russia has a major air base in the coastal city of Latakia and its naval facility at Tartous.
The Tartous base is Russia’s only Mediterranean repair and replenishment hub, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of Africa.
Previously, Russia had five surface ships and one submarine at Tartous, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by BlackSky and Planet Labs. An image taken on Dec. 5 by BlackSky showed all six vessels at the base.
The Dec. 9 satellite images confirm earlier reports by Russian war blogger “Rybar” that the warships had left Tartous and taken up position off the coast for security reasons.
The fleet departed from the naval base sometime between Dec. 6 and Dec. 9, satellite imagery indicated.
(Reporting by Reade Levinson; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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