Syria's new leader visits former Assad strongholds
DAMASCUS
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has visited Latakia and Tartus, making his first official trip to the coastal provinces formerly known as strongholds of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa met with "dignitaries and notables" during his visit, the Syrian presidency said on Telegram.
It published images of Sharaa meeting with dozens of people, some apparently religious figures, in the two provinces' capital cities.
Earlier in the day, Latakia province's official Telegram channel published footage showing thousands of people gathered in the city, some taking photos, as Sharaa's convoy passed through.
Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led the rebel offensive that ousted Assad in December 2024 and he was appointed interim president last month.
Assad's hometown is located in Latakia, which along with neighboring Tartus is home to a large number of the country's Alawite community, a branch of Shiite Islam to which Assad's family belonged.
Assad had presented himself as a protector of minorities in multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Syria, but largely concentrated power in the hands of his fellow Alawites.
Latakia and Tartus are also home to Assad ally Russia's only two military bases outside the former Soviet Union.
Last month, Syria’s new government terminated a treaty granting Russia a long-term military presence in the Mediterranean.
The agreement, signed in 2017, extended the Russian Navy’s lease on the port of Tartus for 49 years.
Over the weekend, Britain said it had tracked in recent days six Russian naval and merchant ships carrying ammunition used in Syria as they sailed through the Channel.
The British Defense Ministry said in a statement the ships, shadowed by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, were withdrawing from Syria following the ousting of its president.
Russia has been evacuating its military assets from Syria since Assad's overthrow, the ministry said, describing it as a "blow to [Moscow's] ambitions in the Middle East.”
"These ships were retreating from Syria after Putin abandoned his ally Assad, yet they were still armed and full of ammunition," said minister John Healey. "This shows Russia is weakened but remains a threat."
