Syria cancels agreement with Russia to lease Tartus port

Syria has canceled a 49-year lease agreement for the port of Tartus to the Russian company Stroytransgaz, signed under Bashar al-Assad in 2019. All revenues from the port's operations will be used in the interests of the Syrian state .

Syria has canceled a 49-year lease agreement for the port of Tartus to the Russian company Stroytransgaz, signed in 2019 under Bashar al-Assad. This was reported by the Arabic publication Al-Watan, citing Riyadh Judi, director of the Tartus Customs Department.

According to Judi , Syria has regained control of the port.

"The investment agreement with the Russian company for the port of Tartus has been canceled. All revenues from the port's operations will be used in the interests of the Syrian state ," Judiy said .

He also noted that port workers are returning to repair obsolete equipment that has not been modernized by Russian specialists, and therefore the new authorities will deal with the restoration of Tartus themselves. There has been no comment from Russia.

Earlier, the new Syrian government had repeatedly openly stated its support for maintaining the presence of Russian military personnel in Tartus, where the Russian Navy's 720th logistics point is located. Time will tell what caused the change in priorities and to what extent the Syrian official's words correspond to the real state of affairs.