MOSCOW — Russia will keep a naval and an air base in Syria capable of carrying out strikes against «terrorists» if required after a partial military pull-out announced by President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Putin on Monday ordered «a significant part» of Moscow›s military contingent to start pulling out of Syria, declaring their work largely done.

Putin, who polls show will be re-elected comfortably in March, made the announcement during a surprise visit to the Russian Hmeymim air base, where he met President Bashar Al-Assad and addressed Russian forces.

«Thanks to the fact that the operation to save Syria and the liberation of Syrian land from terrorists have been completed, there is no longer a need for broad-scale combat strength,» Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

But he added that Russia will keep the Hmeymim air base in Syria›s Latakia Province and its naval facility in the port of Tartous.

«The President stressed that the terrorists might try to ‹walk tall› again in Syria. If that happens, crushing blows will be carried out,» Peskov said.

Meanwhile, the first group of Russian troops deployed to Syria returned home on Tuesday, the army said, beginning a partial withdrawal announced by President Vladimir Putin.

«The battalion of military police from the southern military district (of Russia) deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic has been flown by two military planes to Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan) airport,» the Russian army said in a statement.

State television broadcasted images of soldiers marching out of the aircraft onto a sunny runway in the small republic in Russia›s North Caucasus.

The crews of Tu-22M3 bombers also returned to a military airport in North Ossetia before flying out to their permanent bases, the army said.

Russia first interavened in the Syrian conflict in 2015, staging air strikes in support of its ally Damascus targeting both the Daesh group and other militants as well as rebels fighting government troops. The size of the Russian deployment in Syria is not known but independent Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer has told AFP that up to 10,000 troops and private contractors could have taken part in the conflict.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assad›s rule that sparked a brutal crackdown.

On Thursday, Moscow announced a «total liberation» of Syrian territory from Daesh, even though the terror group still controls several pockets in the country.

Putin said both Russia›s airbase Hmeimim and naval facility in Tartus would continue to function. The Russian president made the Syria stopover, the first by a Russian head of state since president Dmitry Medvedev visited in 2010, en route to Egypt, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. — Agencies