Syria cancels port management contract with Russian firm, sources say

DAMSASCUS (Reuters) – Syria’s new ruling administration has cancelled a contract with a Russian firm to manage and operate the country’s Tartous 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 Tartous customs, Riad Joudy, as saying that the investment contract had been annulled after the Russian firm, STG Stroytransgaz, failed to fulfil the terms of the 2019 deal, which included investments in infrastructure.

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

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 Dec. 8, 2024.

(This story has been corrected to fix the year of Assad ouster to 2024, not 2023, in paragraph 7)

(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Damascus, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by Alex Richardson)