IDF has initiated a campaign of targeted airstrikes across Syrian territory, aimed at thoroughly destroying all weapons and ammunition that could fall into the hands of Syrian insurgents following the collapse of Bashar Assad's regime, which occurred on Sunday, December 8, 2024.
The strikes by the Israeli Air Force as part of this campaign are focused on armored vehicles, air defense systems, aircraft, missile stockpiles, and even boats and ships of the Syrian Navy, particularly those stationed in Tartus.
Tartus pic.twitter.com/o3QTR7997v— MAKS 24 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) December 9, 2024
The peculiarity of the situation is that, apparently, the Russian fleet has not yet abandoned its base at the Syrian port of Tartus, and it is still too early to speak of the withdrawal of Russian ships from there.
In such assumptions, we can rely on a satellite image of Tartus as of the morning of December 9, 2024, published by OSINT analyst MT_Anderson.
This image suggests that as of the morning of the previous day, the port of Tartus was home to the frigate "Admiral Grigorovich" of project 11356, the frigate of project 22350 "Gorshkov," one submarine of project 636.6, and the tanker "Kaliningradneft," all standing at least eight kilometers from the shore.
Moreover, we can also take into account a new report from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which states that the Russians are preparing a new "Syrian express," but this time for the complete evacuation of their military and equipment from Syria.
For transporting cargo to the Mediterranean Sea, two large landing ships from the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy have already been dispatched, and one landing ship from the Baltic Fleet and the cargo ship Sparta II from the fleet of the "Oboronlogistika" company of the Russian Ministry of Defense are also preparing to depart.
As for the remnants of the Syrian Navy that might concern Israel, the situation looks as follows. At the beginning of 2024, according to The Military Balance, the Syrian fleet consisted of one corvette of the Soviet project 159, 16 missile boats of the Soviet project 205, and six boats of the Iranian project Tir, six minesweepers, and three landing ships.
In addition, the Syrian Navy had anti-ship missiles of types P-15 "Termit" and P-35, Russian "Bastion" systems, and Chinese anti-ship missiles of type C-802.