- A high-ranking Russian navy source reported July 21 that
the Soviet-era naval maintenance base near Tartus in Syria is to be expanded
and modernized to become "fully operational." DEBKAfile's military
sources report that Russian is building the facility up as its main sea
base for operations in four seas: The Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the
Mediterranean and Red Seas. The upgrade of Russian port facilities at Tartus,
its only foothold in the Mediterranean, will automatically enhance Moscow's
strategic interests in Syria and Bashar Assad's regime.
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- The Russian source said that the 50 naval personnel and
three berthing floats currently deployed at Tartus with accommodation for
up a dozen warships will be beefed up with a new berthing float delivered
by two tugboats from the Black Sea Fleet. DEBKAfile's sources disclose
that those warships will include large vessels such as the nuclear-armed
guided missile cruiser Peter the Great and the aircraft carrier Admiral
Kuznetsov, which called in at Tartus in January.
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- In September 2008, DEBKAfile first disclosed that the
Russian Navy commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky and his Syrian counterpart
Gen. Taleb al-Barri, had signed contracts for converting Tartus into one
of Russia's most highly-developed naval infrastructures outside its territory.
Its warships based there will capable of reaching the Red Sea through the
Suez Canal and the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar in a matter
of days. For original disclosures:
- http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5577
- and http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5591
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- Israel is deeply concerned, according to our military
sources, by the sophisticated air-defense S-300PMU-2 and Iskander-E missile
systems the Russians propose to hand Syria on the pretext of installing
a shield to defend the facility against air or missile attack. Moscow claims
they will remain under the control of Russian crews but, according to information
reaching Israel, they will be quietly and gradually handedover to the Syrian
army; the Russian teams are in fact instructors.
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- Russia justifies this, according to DEBKAfile's Moscow
sources, by the deployment of the highly sophisticated American FBX-T missile-interception
radar systems at the Israeli Negev base of Nevatim.
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- Furthermore, Moscow will have its rejoinder for the disputed
US deployment of missile interceptors in Eastern Europe. As we reported
last September, the Russian Black Sea fleet and new Mediterranean-based
warships will coordinate their operations under a single command. They
are designed as counter-deployments to the post-Georgian-war US and NATO
naval presence in the Black Sea as well as its fleets in other parts of
the Mediterranean including Israel's shores.
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- http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6192
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