- October 16, 2025
- 12:52 pm
- Middle East
Putin and Ahmed al-Sharaa met on October 15, 2025, in the Kremlin. For the interim leader of Syria, this is the first visit to Russia after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
New President of Syria in Moscow
The meeting was held behind closed doors. The Kremlin’s press service dryly reported: “bilateral relations and security issues were discussed.” But, in essence, it was about the fate of the entire Syrian configuration of the last ten years.
Putin “reminded” that Moscow “is guided by the interests of the Syrian people.” Al-Sharaa, in response, promised that the new government “will respect all agreements signed under Assad.”
In other words, Russia can keep the bases — Tartus and Khmeimim, and Syria receives recognition from the Kremlin.
Assad in Exile, but Under Moscow’s Protection
According to the German Die Zeit, Bashar al-Assad lives in Moscow-City. It is said he spends his days playing video games. Symbolically: a man who ruled a country for more than ten years, where bombs fell every day, is now secluded in virtual worlds.
Officially, Damascus has already requested his extradition. But for Putin, Assad is not just a fugitive, but an asset. As cynical as it may sound, the ex-dictator is still needed by Moscow as a reminder of the “Syrian victory.”
The Price of This “Victory”
Israeli military analyst Yigal Levin provides figures that chill the blood:
“According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, between 2015 and 2020, 19,274 people died due to the actions of Russian troops, including 3,320 women and children.”
More than eight thousand were civilians. The rest were ISIS militants and armed opposition.
Levin reminds:
“Most of them died from strikes by Russian Aerospace Forces. These figures are not just statistics. They are a memory of people killed by foreign geopolitics.”
Elites Don’t Fight. Soldiers Do
In his commentary, Levin makes a bitter observation:
“How is it that yesterday’s field commander, radical, and revolutionary, today calmly shakes hands with Putin — the executioner of the Syrian people?”
And he answers himself:
“Elites don’t fight. They negotiate. Soldiers fight and die.”
This is the law of politics — unwritten but enduring. Yesterday’s enemies, tomorrow’s partners, if the moment demands it.
Al-Sharaa, a former ally of Julani, now speaks of “Russia’s contribution” and “Syria’s development.” The one who was recently a target for the CIA and Russian special services has now become a “recognized representative of sovereignty.”
Ukrainian Contrast: No Agreement Here
Levin draws a parallel: between Putin and Zelensky — it’s not just a chasm. It’s a personal, existential enmity.
“Remember how Trump said he was struck by Putin’s hatred for Zelensky? They cannot sit at the same table — it’s gone too deep.”
Unlike Syria, Russia’s war against Ukraine is not for power, not for bases, but for the very idea of freedom.
“Ukrainians,” writes Levin, “humiliated Russia, Putin, and his army before the whole world. For this, he will not forgive. Neither Zelensky nor Kyiv.”
Syria as a Mirror: What Would Be Without Air Defense
At the end of his analysis, Levin publishes a photo: a Russian bomber dropping bombs over the Syrian desert. The caption is short and terrifying:
“With precision ‘somewhere there.’
And adds:
“If not for the help of the free world in creating Ukrainian air defense, we would see the same over Ukraine.”
According to him, the Russian army does not “fight humanely” — it simply does not know how to do otherwise.
Between Past and Future
The meeting between Putin and al-Sharaa is not just a diplomatic gesture. It’s an attempt to rewrite the history of the war. Moscow is trying to maintain influence, even if its ally has changed.
But behind the beautiful phrases about “friendship of peoples” remain traces — the ruins of Aleppo, thousands of Syrians who will never see a peaceful life, and a new generation of Syrians for whom “Russia” is not a word from a textbook, but the sound of a falling bomb.
NANews: Israel closely monitors changes in Syria, as it was there that the Russian military expansion began, later becoming a prologue to the war against Ukraine. And, as Yigal Levin emphasizes, the only thing keeping the sky over Kyiv from the fate of Aleppo is air defense and the solidarity of the free world.
