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July 28th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday signed an agreement with Syria that extends Russia’s lease of the base by 49 years. The air base, is, besides the naval bae in Tartus, of greatest strategic importance for the Russian Federation.
The lease document was published on the Russian Federation’s government website (HERE). The Russian Federation will continue to lease the Khmeinim air base in Syria’s latakia province until at least 2066, stipulates the document.
The Syrian Arab Republic conceded to lease / lend the air base to Russia free of charge in an agreement that serves both Syrian and Russian long-term strategic and security requirements.
The Khmeinim air base has been the primary base of operations for Russian air force units operating in Syria since Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015. The agreement in 2015 was based on an invitation from the government of the Syrian Arab Republic. The Russian intervention in Syria contributed significantly to turning the tide against Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Syria.
In 2012 Russia decided to upgrade its auxiliary naval base in Tartus, Syria, to a permanent base – photo from 2012.
The deployment of Russian air forces to Syria prompted also a new round of propaganda war; that is, Russia was criticized about as much for “targeting civilians” in Syria, as Russian media criticized “the U.S.-led coalition for targeting civilians in Iraq”.
The long-term lease of the Khmeinim air base follows the transformation of the Russian auxiliary naval base in Tartus in eastern Syria into a permanent naval base in 2015. The Khmeinim air base enables Russia to provide greater air cover for the base in Tartus.
The base in Tartus is of greatest geostrategic importance for the Russian Federation. It is the only naval base the allows Russia a permanent presence in the Mediterranean without having to pass through the Dardanelles and Bosporus – from the Black Sea -, or the Gibraltar Strait – for Russia’s Northern Fleet normally based in the Baltic Sea.
The government of the Syrian Arab Republic, for its part, perceived the Russian military presence in Syria as the best possible guarantee against a fate similar to that of Libya, while Russia, arguably, also provides potential leverage against growing Iranian ambitions in the country.
CH/L – nsnbc 27.07.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/07/27/russia-extends-lease-of-khmeinim-air-base-in-syria-by-49-years-free-of-charge/
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