Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow on Wednesday (January 28, 2026), as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of military bases vital for its operations in West Asia.

Russia was a key ally of Mr. Sharaa’s predecessor Bashar al-Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war.

His toppling at the hands of Mr. Sharaa’s rebel forces dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and threw the status of its prized military bases in Syria into doubt.

Mr. Putin has been working to build relations with Mr. Sharaa since, though Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife in Moscow remains a major obstacle to improving ties.

“Much has been accomplished in terms of restoring our interstate relations,” Mr. Putin said in a televised meeting with Mr. Sharaa.

“We have closely monitored your efforts to restore Syria’s territorial integrity and I want to congratulate you on the momentum this process is gaining,” Mr. Putin said, apparently referring to Mr. Sharaa’s recent offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria’s northeast.

Mr. Sharaa, in his second meeting with Mr. Putin since coming to power, said Russia had a “historic role not only in Syria’s unity and stability, but in that of the entire region.”

Neither mentioned Russia’s military presence in Syria, though Mr. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier he had “no doubt” the issue would come up in their talks.

Russia has two remaining military outposts in the country, the Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.

They are Russia’s only two official military bases outside the former Soviet Union.

The Kremlin withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week.

Syria has expressed a willingness to cooperate with Moscow, though has repeatedly demanded that Russia extradite Assad.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (January 27, 2026) praised Mr. Sharaa as “highly respected” and said things there were “working out very well”.

The Syrian government on Sunday (January 18, 2026) announced a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces, taking almost full control of the country and dismantling the Kurdish-led forces that controlled the northeast for over a decade.

The announcement comes as tensions between government forces and the SDF boiled over earlier this month, eventually resulting in a major push by government forces toward the east.

The SDF appeared to have largely retreated after initial clashes on a tense front line area in eastern Aleppo province.

Syria’s Defence Ministry said it ordered the fighting to halt on the front lines after the agreement was announced. The SDF did not confirm the agreement, nor immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Syria’s new leaders, since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country. An agreement was reached in March that would merge the SDF with Damascus, but it didn’t gain traction as both sides accused each other of violating the deal.

Since the push, the government has largely asserted control of the Deir el-Zour and Raqqa provinces, critical areas under the SDF that include oil and gas fields, river dams along the Euphrates, and border crossings.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA showed President Ahmad al-Sharaa signing and holding the agreement. SDF leader Mazloum Abdi, who was scheduled to meet with the President in Damascus was not seen, though his signature appeared on the document. Al-Sharaa told journalists that Mr. Abdi could not travel due to bad weather and will visit Damascus on Monday (January 19) after reaching the agreement over the phone.

“It’s a victory for all Syrians of all backgrounds,” Mr. al-Sharaa told journalists in Damascus after signing the agreement. “Hopefully Syria will end its state of division and moves to a state of unity and progress.”

The two warring sides are key allies of Washington. U.S. Envoy Tom Barrack met with Mr. al-Sharaa earlier on Sunday (January 18) as government forces were sweeping into the city of Raqqa and across Deir el-Zour province. Mr. Abdi reportedly joined the meeting over the phone.

Mr. Barrack praised the agreement, saying it will lead to “renewed dialogue and cooperation toward a unified Syria,” ahead of working on the details of implementing the integration.

“This agreement and ceasefire represent a pivotal inflection point, where former adversaries embrace partnership over division,” said Mr. Barrack in a post on X.

The agreement includes dismantling the SDF and having its forces join Syria’s military and security forces, while senior military and civilian officials would be given high-ranking positions in state institutions.

The SDF would have to give up the Raqqa and Deir el-Zour provinces to the Syrian military and government, as well as its border crossings and oil and gas fields.

Hassakah Province is only expected to give its civilian administration back to Damascus, while the Kurdish-led agencies that handled prisons and sprawling camps with thousands of detained Islamic State group fighters and families would be handed over to Damascus.

There is no clear timeline on when and how the different elements of the agreement will go into effect. Mr. Al-Sharaa told journalists that it will be gradually implemented, beginning with the cessation of hostilities.

It appeared that tensions following clashes in Aleppo earlier this month had calmed after Mr. Abdi announced that his troops will withdraw east of the Euphrates River, and Mr. al-Sharaa issued a presidential decree that would strengthen Kurdish rights in the country.

However, overnight the Syrian military seized Tabqa, continuing into Raqqa province. Syrian troops reached much of Raqqa city by the time the announcement was made. Armed Arab clans in Raqqa and Deir el-Zour that largely do not support the SDF backed Damascus. By evening, the SDF lost control of large swaths of its territory and infrastructure, including dams and oil and gas fields.

An Associated Press reporter in the area said that large military convoys swept into Raqqa city and were greeted by residents. It appeared that the SDF had withdrawn.

The SDF took Tabqa from IS in 2017 as part of its military campaign to take down the Islamic State group’s so-called caliphate, which at its peak stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. At the height of its control, IS declared Raqqa its capital.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday (November 6, 2025) voted to lift a series of sanctions on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and members of his government days before he is set to arrive in the U.S. for a historic visit to the White House.

The U.S. resolution to drop U.N. sanctions tied to Mr. al-Sharaa and Syria’s Interior Minister, Anas Hasan Khattab, stemming from their ties to the al-Qaida militant group, was adopted with 14 members in support. China abstained from the vote.

“With the adoption of this text, the council is sending a strong political signal that recognises Syria is in a new era since Assad and his associates were toppled in December 2024,” Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, said in his statement after the vote, referring to longtime autocratic leader Bashar Assad.

American officials pushed to pass the resolution before Monday, when President Donald Trump is expected to host Mr. al-Sharaa in the first visit by a Syrian president to Washington since the country gained independence in 1946.

Syria’s foreign ministry welcomed the vote, saying in a statement that the near-unanimous support “reflects the growing confidence in President al-Sharaa’s leadership” and “represents a victory for Syrian diplomacy, which has succeeded in restoring international recognition of Syria’s status and its pivotal role in the region”.

But China remained skeptical of the effort.

Fu Cong, Chinese ambassador to the UN, said that while Beijing supports the Syrian people, the U.S. proposal did not adequately address “the legitimate concerns of all parties” regarding counterterrorism and security in Syria.

“The sponsor did not fully heed the views of all members and forced the council to take action even when there were huge differences among council members in an attempt to serve its own political agenda,” he said.

While Mr. al-Sharaa is in Washington, Syria is expected to join the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition, which includes some 80 countries working to prevent a resurgence of the militant group.

The effort is part of Mr. Trump’s strategy to rebuild relations with Syria after the 50-year rule of the Assad family came to an end in a lightning offensive led by al-Sharaa. Assad’s fall also brought to an end nearly 14 years of civil war.

Since then, Mr. al-Sharaa has sought to restore ties with Arab countries and the West, where officials were initially wary of his past ties to al-Qaida. The rebel group he formerly led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was previously designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organisation.

Mr. Trump met Mr. al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May and made good on a pledge to lift or waive decades of sanctions against the war-torn country.

However, the most stringent sanctions were imposed by Congress under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act in 2019 and will require a congressional vote to remove them permanently.

In a bipartisan statement, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee welcomed the UN action on Thursday and said it was now Congress’ turn to act to “bring the Syrian economy into the 21st century”.

We “are actively working with the administration and our colleagues in Congress to repeal Caesar sanctions”, Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement ahead of the vote.

“It’s time to prioritise reconstruction, stability, and a path forward rather than isolation that only deepens hardship for Syrians.” Syria’s conflict broke out in early 2011 and left nearly half a million people dead and millions displaced, including many who are now refugees. The war caused widespread destruction, and Syria will need tens of billions of dollars to rebuild.