cuz it’s in syria that they have only 1 navy port in the Med.
Though they do have access to the Med from the Black Sea it is at least 1.5-2 days sail. Having a friendly port just miles from the richest natural gas finds south of Moscow (belonging to Israel and Cyprus) and 12 hours by fleet from the Suez canal has strategic benefits. Watch Turkey. NATO member, but probably already deep into double-dealing. While I doubt Russia will overty attack Israel or Cyprus, they want influence over natural gas policy. Israel/Cyprus will play the spoiler to the Russian NatGas monopoly supplying Europe. There is plenty of market for everyone, but Russia much prefers the power of having Europe dependent and Israel/Cyprus can have enormous GDP gains from opening supply lines from the south. So, leverage over Israel from troops parked in Syria is a strategic gain for the Bear.
And is it a coincidence that Bibi is visiting Downing street today?