Syria’s new leaders cancel port contract with Russian firm

Syrian media reports Tartus port management deal with Russia’s STG Stroytransgaz has been annulled, after new administration says contract with Assad’s government was not fulfilled

By Reuters 24 January 2025, 7:06 pm

Edit

This handout satellite image taken by Maxar Technologies on December 17, 2024 shows an overview of the port of Tartus in western Syria. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies / AFP)

Syria’s new ruling administration has canceled a contract with a Russian firm to manage and operate the country’s Tartus port that was signed under former President Bashar al-Assad, according to three Syrian businessmen and media reports.

Syrian government spokespeople either said they could not confirm the reports or did not respond to requests for comment.

Semi-official Syrian newspaper Al-Watan on Thursday quoted the head of Tartus customs, Riad Joudy, as saying that the investment contract had been annulled after the Russian firm, STG Stroytransgaz, failed to fulfill the terms of the 2019 deal, which included investments in infrastructure.

The report was confirmed by three Syrian businessmen, including one with work at Tartus port.

STG Stroytransgaz is a major construction company whose mandate was to invest and develop the commercial port, Syria’s second-largest after Latakia.

The contract is separate from the Russian naval base in Tartus, built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and part of a decades-old military agreement between Moscow and Damascus on the use of the Mediterranean port.

An aerial view shows container ships anchored off the coast of the western Syrian port city of Tartus, on December 18, 2024. (Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Russia and Syria’s new ruling administration have said they are in talks over the future of Russia’s military presence in Syria after Islamist rebels ousted Russia’s ally Assad on December 8, 2023.