A Russian cargo plane has left one of Russia’s air bases in Syria this morning, a Syrian security official stationed outside the facility said. 

The official said that additional Russian departures from the Khmeimim air base in Syria’s coastal Latakia province are expected in the coming days. 

Russia has several military sites in Syria as a legacy of its intervention in the country’s civil war from 2015 when it backed Bashar al Assad’s fight against rebels.

On Thursday, it was reported that the Kremlin believed it was close to striking a deal with the Hayar Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group to maintain its air base and Tartus naval base to keep up efforts against what it called international terrorism.

Yet Russia appeared to have accelerated its military withdrawal from Syria yesterday, as soldiers were filmed packing up a S-400 defence missile system and pouring out of the compound. 

Russia, a longstanding ally of Assad, granted the ousted Syrian leader asylum last weekend after helping him to flee his country as the rebels approached Damascus.