This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batchew with my colleague and friend Bill Rajo, senior fellow

for the Foundation for Defensive Democracies. He keeps the Long War Journal, where you can

routinely see reporting by our guest, Ahmed Shirawi of the FD, watching Syria for us very closely.

Ahmed, you have a piece up at the FD right now that is suggestive, and it also is surprising.

The site of Russian officers, along with representatives of the Damascus government, headed by Al-Shara,

these Russian officers touring something described as southern Syria, a place that here to four

I had associated with the IDF occupying a buffer zone in order to seal off any chaos coming

out of the Syrian revolution with Al-Shara and Damascus.

However, they're the Russian officers.

I understand Russia has ambitions to keep a naval base and an air base in the northwest.

But the southern Syria part puzzles me.

Good evening to you, Ahmed.

Why were they there?

Good evening, John. So let's go back to

2017 for a bit. There was an agreement by the United States and Russia to allow the Russian

officers to, the Russian army to manned checkpoints in southern Syria in order to de-escalate and deconflict

in that region.

And so with the fall of the Assad regime in 2024, these troops were pulled, they were pulled

out of southern Syria and they were taken to Western Syria to the two bases in Tartouz.

What seems to be happening right now is that Russia is seeking to return to that area as a

deconfliction, as part of the deconfliction mechanism between Israel and Syria.

And we've heard that there are still negotiations happening regarding a security agreement between Syria and Israel.

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