Key Facts Syria will retake control of Hmeimim Air Base and key facilities at Tartus after approximately 18 months of negotiations with Moscow. Russian military facilities will become joint Syrian-Russian training centers, ending Moscow’s previous exclusive operational control. Russia had been Assad’s principal foreign military backer and used its intervention in Syria to establish a powerful strategic presence in the eastern Mediterranean. However, converting military facilities into joint training centers dramatically changes a relationship in which Moscow once operated the bases as powerful extensions of its own armed forces. Russia’s bases allowed Moscow to maintain a permanent military presence on NATO’s southern flank, support operations throughout the Mediterranean and provide logistical connections to Russian activities in Africa.