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Russia delivers batch of wheat to Syria first time under new power — source

The Pola Marina vessel supplied 6,600 tons of wheat to the Syrian port of Latakia on Sunday, April 20

DUBAI, April 26. /TASS/. Russia has delivered a batch of wheat to Syria for the first time since the change of power in the Arab republic last December, a trader organizing supplies of Russian grain to Syria under the previous regime told TASS.

The Pola Marina vessel supplied 6,600 tons of wheat to the Syrian port of Latakia on Sunday, April 20, the source said. The bulk carrier sailing under the flag of Russia was bound from the port of Rostov-on-Don, Marine Traffic data showed. After unloading in Latakia the vessel returned back.

The delivery was organized by a Russian company, the source said without specifying its name. Previously the supplier was not involved in imports of Russian grain to Syria, he stressed. There is no talk about resumption of regular grain supplies from Russia to Syria now, the source noted. "It was a one-off event," he added.

The Syrian General Directorate of Ports reported that the first batch of wheat had been delivered to Latakia since December 2024, since all supplies of grain to the country stopped after the previous Syrian president was ousted.

In late November 2024, Syria’s armed opposition forces started a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates. By the evening of December 7, they seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus. Bashar Assad stepped down as Syrian president and left the country. Head of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group (outlawed in Russia) Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the country’s actual leader.

On January 29, the governing body of the new authorities, the Military Operations Command, announced that Ahmed al-Sharaa would assume the duties of the country’s president during the transitional period. It also announced the dissolution of the People’s Assembly (parliament) formed under the previous regime, as well as all related committees. Moreover, the 2012 constitution, as well as all laws adopted under emergency conditions, were annulled.

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