Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday. An official Russian delegation has arrived in the capital Damascus for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Russian news agencies reported.

RIA Novosti said the delegation included Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev.

The agency said it was ‘the first visit by Russian officials to Damascus’ since Assad fled last December after rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took control of the capital.

Russia is now seeking to secure the fate of its naval base at Tartus and airbase at Hmeimim in Syria, its only military outposts outside , under the new Syrian authorities.