The Russian Ministry of Defense is currently working on expanding the capacities of Syria’s Hmeimim air base in Latakia countryside as part of Russia’s plans to entrench its presence in the eastern Mediterranean in the long run. 

The War Zone website specialized in military analysis had published in a Feb. 5 report satellite images showing the ongoing work to expand one of the two main runways of the Hmeimim military air base by around 1,000 feet. “The extension would allow the base to support more regular deployments of larger and more heavily laden aircraft, including heavy airlifters and even potentially bombers,” the website stated.

Meanwhile, Russian media cited a Russian pilot as saying May 27 that it is now possible for airplanes to land at the Hmeimim air base, one after the other, with a time lapse of one minute. The pilot said that the airport at the air base will also be equipped to welcome civil airplanes. 

In late April, reports circulated about the first flight between Israel and Syria, claiming that a Russian plane took off from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv toward the Hmeimim air base in Latakia.