Tensions in Syria are increasingly marked by a struggle for the control of economic routes, as the country’s economic crisis is exacerbated amid shortages of even basic goods such as bread, fuel queues stretching for kilometers, and mounting calls for the reopening of border crossings to facilitate humanitarian aid.

The Russian and Syrian militaries pounded a series of crucial targets in Turkish-controlled areas in northern Syria in March, including rudimentary refineries and tanker parks in Jarablus and al-Bab, a parking lot for trucks carrying goods at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, a similar commercial area and a gas facility in Sarmada.

Meanwhile, movement has been restricted again between government-held areas and the region to the east to the Euphrates River, which is controlled by US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The attacks on economic facilities to the west are of concern for the Kurds as well, for SDG-controlled Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor are the source of the oil processed in refineries in the targeted areas.

Amid the escalation, Turkey and Russia were negotiating the opening of three crossings in the Idlib de-escalation zone, both for commercial and humanitarian use. The two sides have long failed to make progress on reopening the key M4 highway in the region. The crossings under discussion included one at Saraqeb, a town in eastern Idlib that sits on the intersection of the M4 and M5 roads; one at Miznaz in Aleppo’s southwestern countryside; and another in the Abu al-Zendin area south of al-Bab. The deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation in Syria, Alexander Karpov, announced on March 24 that an agreement had been reached to open all three crossings, but Turkish officials denied the deal.