TARTUS, Syria — On Dec. 8, the Syrian authorities issued a decision to halt the ferries transporting passengers from the Syrian port of Tartus to the Turkish port of Mersin. Why these trips, which started late last summer, began operating is unclear, given the high tension between Damascus and Ankara.

Before these ferries began service, Syrians used to travel to Turkey via Beirut or through land crossings controlled by Syrian opposition factions. All crossings on the Syrian-Turkish border controlled by the Syrian regime have been closed, and Syrian-Turkish flights were suspended while relations between the two governments deteriorated. Before the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, using the land crossings was easy and inexpensive. It was possible to drive from Tartus to Mersin, and the trip would take less than five hours through the Kassab crossing, which has been closed for over two years now.

Throughout the past five months, hundreds of people have been gathering almost daily at the gate of the Tartus port. Luggage piled up on the sidewalk of the street leading to the main port gate, where security agents searched bags and checked travelers’ documents. Many appeared to be poor families fleeing the harsh conditions of the Syrian war. Old men with their children and veiled wives were often seen at the port’s gate with worn-out luggage.

Prior to the regime’s decision to halt the ferries, Al-Monitor had met with Umm Hassan, who was getting ready to travel with her children aboard one of them. She explained the conditions that led her to the decision: “I was moved with my husband and children from Aleppo to the Syrian coast about a year and a half ago. My husband disappeared a year ago on his way back to Aleppo to check on our house there. I have been trying for a few months to travel to Turkey to stay with my relatives. These ferries are a gift from heaven, as I managed to raise enough money by borrowing from friends and working for two months as a housemaid.”