Russia moves into the Mediterranean • Military foothold part of closer ties with Damascus • Move could deter Israel from attacks on Syria Hugh Macleod : The Guardian 8/10/2008 During balmy evenings in the sleepy Syrian port of Tartous locals promenade along the seafront or suck on hookahs discussing the two great pillars of their society: business and family. Politics, such as it is in the tightly controlled one-party state, rarely gets a mention, and certainly not in public. But few could fail to wonder about the foreign sailors dockside and the grey warship dominating a harbour that was once a trading hub of the Phoenician empire and is now the centre of a new projection of power, this time by Syria's old ally Russia. Tartous is being dredged and renovated to provide a permanent facility for the Russian navy, giving Moscow...
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