Reuters reported on Saturday that Russia has begun withdrawing its forces from the front lines in the north of the country and from positions in the coastal mountains, but it noted that Moscow will not leave its two main bases after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad .
Reuters quoted four Syrian officials as saying that “a Russian cargo plane left the Russian Hmeimim air base in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, heading to Libya, explaining that more Russian planes are expected to take off from the base in the coming days .”
This comes after satellite images published by Maxar, after the Syrian opposition forces overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime earlier this week, showed that Russia appears to be gathering military equipment at its air base in Syria .
The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
