Russia’s parliament ratified a treaty with Syria Friday allowing Russian troops to stay indefinitely in the country as lawmakers are making a strong show of support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, Syria’s army – backed by Russian warplanes – are laying siege to the rebel-held eastern part of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. Bombings of the city have increased since the U.S.-Russia-brokered ceasefire collapsed last month.
Russia launched its air campaign in Syria a year ago which has reversed the tide of the war and helped Assad’s forces regain some key ground, the report said. Moscow says the goal of its military operation is to assist the Syrian army in the fight against terrorism and rejects accusations of targeting civilians in relentless airstrikes.
Lawmakers in the Kremlin-controlled State Duma voted on the deal late in the day.
The treaty allows Russia to keep its forces at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, Assad’s Alawite heartland, as long as it wants, the report said. The deal was signed in August 2015 in Damascus, a month before the Russian air campaign began.
Russia also has a naval base in Syria’s port of Tartus, the only such outpost outside the former Soviet Union. That base is not covered by the treaty, and some lawmakers said it could be subject of a separate deal, the report said.