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Article: Snubbed by West, Syria moves to East.
- Article from:
- Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)
- Article date:
- October 3, 2008
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The visit of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to Moscow last month is still generating interest in the Western media. Most important, perhaps, is the news that Al Assad has invited Russia to upgrade the Syrian port of Tartous in order to give Russian fleet a permanent base in the Mediterranean.
"Damascus does not mind transforming Tartous into the Russian Navy's base in the Mediterranean Sea," Al Assad told the Russian daily Kommersant ahead of his visit to Moscow.
Transforming Tartous into a place of permanent stationing of Russian ships has been on the table for a long time. In 2006, Russian military sources disclosed that their government will start ...