Russia sent a sanctioned cargo ship to resupply its air base in Syria in May, the first such mission since Assad’s fall from power, according to U.S. officials and satellite images reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
The cargo ship Sparta departed St. Petersburg in March and arrived at the Syrian port of Tartus in May, carrying equipment for the nearby Khmeimim air base, some of the U.S. officials said. Russian navy warships, including the frigate Admiral Kasatonov, escorted the vessel for much of its Mediterranean journey.
The operation signals Moscow’s intent to preserve its strategic military foothold in Syria under the country’s new government — a development that has concerned some U.S. officials who had hoped the Syrian revolution would deprive Russia of an important way station for operations in Africa and South America.
“I think the Russians basically succeeded in keeping the bases,” said Aron Lund, a Syria expert at the Swedish Defense Research Agency. “They have used carrot and stick, but I think mostly carrot, to persuade the Syrians that they can serve a useful function for them and they have something to gain from each other.”
The Sparta is under U.S. Treasury Department sanctions, as is its owner, SC South LLC, and its parent company, Oboronlogistics LLC, which says its primary business is logistics for the Russian Defense Ministry. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The resupply mission is the first since Assad was toppled by Islamist rebels in late 2024. Russia had used the Khmeimim air base beginning a decade ago to launch a bombing campaign against Assad’s opponents during Syria’s civil war. The country’s new government, led by former rebels who long opposed Assad and Russia’s intervention, initially appeared to present an obstacle to Moscow’s continued military presence.
But Sharaa continued to negotiate with Moscow over the fate of the bases after taking power. Sharaa has cultivated relations with both Russia and the West, visiting Washington and Moscow last year as part of a campaign to gain international acceptance for his government. Russia has sold Syria wheat and oil, likely at advantageous rates, offering a lifeline to a Syrian economy still struggling after years of sanctions and war.
Russia and Syria also share a mutual interest in monitoring security threats from each other’s territory. Assad, his family and many loyalists are now in exile in Russia, while many Chechen and other fighters from former Soviet areas reside in Syria after joining militant groups in the Middle East.
“Russia could offer Sharaa a potential hedge against the U.S., whose support under President Trump can’t be taken for granted,” Lund said.
Hundreds of Russian personnel remain in Syria, according to one of the U.S. officials familiar with intelligence assessments.
The U.S. military withdrew from its bases in Syria earlier this year, ending a more than decadelong commitment to the country that began as a mission to fight Islamic State extremists. Former President Joe Biden had conditioned the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria on the removal of Russian bases from the country. The Trump administration backed away from that restriction, and Trump later ordered an unconditional lifting of sanctions on Syria.
The Sparta is part of a small fleet of cargo ships that Russia has used for shipments of weapons and other military equipment in the region, according to Yörük Isik, a ship-tracking expert and head of the consulting firm Bosphorus Observer, who identified the ship’s movements.
“Sparta and all its sister ships have a long history of working on behalf of the Russian government,” Isik said. “We clearly saw it unloading military cargo in Tartus.”
The ship is operated by a network of companies linked to the Russian government. The vessels have been used to circumvent a treaty that currently bars Russia from moving military vessels in and out of the Black Sea, the Journal reported.
Some U.S. officials said the resupply mission didn’t raise alarm, because the Syrian government’s ties with Moscow are known and the military equipment is far from American interests primarily in the country’s northeast.
A satellite image from Planet Labs showed the Sparta in the port of Tartus on May 11, alongside support ships used by the Russian navy. A separate image from Vantor showed the ship loaded in St. Petersburg before departing on its voyage around Europe to the Mediterranean.