The Russian military presence in Syria could face a further reduction. Days after placing Kurdish-held territory under government control, Damascus is reportedly preparing to ask Russian forces to withdraw from the Qamishli airfield.
According to , the Syrian government may soon ask Russian forces to Abandonnem or aeródromo de qeishlione of three remaining Russian military installations in the country.
Negotiations on the issue, a Syrian source told the newspaper, could begin as soon as control of Hasakah province formally passes from Kurdish forces to Damascus. “I think the Russians will be asked to abandon Qamishli completely,” the source said. “They have nothing to do there anymore“.
The independent Russian portal spoke to an expert, who, for security reasons, spoke on condition of anonymity, to understand what role did it play the Qamishli airfield in Russia’s Syrian policy.
For more than a decade, large parts of the provinces of Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa have been under siege.under control of Kurdish forces.
In mid-January, following a government offensive, Damascus announced that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had agreed to hand over these territories to state control.
Anton Mardasov, expert at the Russian Council for International Affairs, also expects Russian forces to withdraw from Qamishli.
With intensifying regional competition and increased pressure from the Syrian government on Kurdish groups, Mardasov said, “it is unlikely that Moscow will be able to play the role of mediator,” making it “logical” that a Russian military presence there ends up being completely closed.
Russia began using the Qamishli airfield in 2019 and maintained it after the change of power in Syria, having even increased its presence in the summer of 2025, according to Syrian media. But in January, Syria TV, citing satellite imagery, reported a partial withdrawal of Russian equipment from the site for reasons that were not explained.
Qamishli, a facility previously used by US forces, served a specific military purposealbeit limited, for Russia, according to the Meduza expert: watch over northeastern Syria and help protect the Kurdish autonomous region from pro-Turkish forces.
In previous years, it also functioned as coordination point: Joint patrols with the US armed forces regularly departed from the airfield. That role has disappeared. After the fall of Bashar al-Assadsays the expert, the base effectively lost its military relevance.
Most Russian troops have been withdrawn, and neither Moscow nor Washington have shown interest in protect Kurdish autonomy or in controlling local oil fields.
The aerodrome, adds specialist, was not used as a logistics center for operations elsewhere, as opposed to the Russian bases in Khmeimim and Tartus; its importance reached its peak during the campaign against Daesh.
Russia has maintained constructive relations with the new Syrian authorities and has preserved what it considers to be genuinely vital assets: the Tartus naval base and the Khmeimim air base. In this context, there was no reason for Moscow to insist on maintaining a marginal facility in the northeast.
