Open trade between regime and rebel areas in Syria hints at warming Assad-Erdogan ties

Mortar bomb attack disrupted flow of goods at crossing in divided Aleppo governorate

Turkish-backed Syrian rebel fighters take part in a military parade in northern Aleppo, in 2022. AFP

Fruit and canned goods flowed between areas held by the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition and territories under the authority of Damascus on Monday, a freight company manager said, a month after the crossing was closed.

The reopening of the Abu Al Zanadin crossing indicated commercial exchange between the two sides has resumed after anger at Ankara's moves towards rapprochement with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Sources close to Ankara said the passing of goods between the rebel-held city of Al Bab and the provincial capital of Aleppo in northern Syria was helped by a Russian-supervised drive to end hostilities between Ankara and Damascus.

But hours after the first shipments started moving through the crossing, mortar rounds hit the opposition side of the border, forcing a halt to the lorries. Turkish proxies formed a security cordon around the crossing, the manager said by phone from the area. The perpetrators might have been Turkish allies opposed to the detente or "simply smugglers set to lose money from the opening of the crossing", he said.

There were no reported casualties and no one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Smuggling has been rife throughout the Syrian civil war but this was the first time an exchange took place in the open, with Syrian officials on duty on the other side.

The detente became a Russian objective shortly after Moscow intervened in the Syrian civil war in late 2015, restoring large parts of the country to regime control but falling short of overrunning a Turkish zone in the north-west, as well as a US zone in the north-east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meet Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad at the Kremlin in Moscow in July. AFP

Earlier this year, Turkey instructed its opposition allies to set up the crossing, in co-operation with troops and the pro-Assad paramilitary units that control the other side, opposition figures in Istanbul said.

The crossing opened in late June but the flow of goods lasted for only a few days before crowds stormed the area, angry at the possibility of Turkey and the Syrian government mending ties.

On Monday, several lorries had managed to pass through before the mortar attack, according to the manager, who had sent a shipment of canned goods made by factories in the Al Bab area – part of the Turkish zone just inside Syria.

Fruit from regime areas also came into rebel-held territory, he said.

“Regime areas are hungry for cheap, decent-quality goods,” he said. He also revealed he has been in talks with Turkish exporters to ship manufactured goods from inside Turkey through the crossing.

In the last decade of the Syrian civil war, the country has fragmented into zones supervised separately by Turkey, Iran and Russia, as well as the US. In turn, Ankara, Moscow and Tehran have been increasing co-operation in efforts to end American presence.

The US area, which is mainly in the north-east, comprises the centre of Syria's oil and wheat production. It is administered by Kurdish militias who are perceived as a threat by both Damascus and Ankara.

In 2015, Turkey created a network of Syrian proxy forces which it employed to help its troops overrun areas in north-western Syria that had been captured by the Kurdish militias, without advancing into the oil and gas producing areas.

But a perceived weakening of the US's influence in Syria, as well as strong ties between Ankara and Moscow, have given an impetus to Mr Erdogan to seek accommodation with Mr Assad.

Ties between the two presidents deteriorated after Syrian authorities used force to suppress the 2011 revolt against the President. The crackdown killed mainly Sunni civilians, prompting the emergence of an armed Sunni movement, which Turkey supported.

Mr Erdogan was widely seen as championing the cause of Syria’s Sunnis against the Alawite dominated ruling system but he began taking a pro-Russian line in 2015.

The Russian drive appeared to have suffered a setback when Mr Assad announced last month that he would meet Mr Erdogan only if they were to focus on what he called Ankara's support for terrorism and the withdrawal of Turkish forces.

But an opposition figure in contact with Turkish officials said Damascus is adopting a maximalist position.

Syrian and Turkish security officials met this month at the behest of Russia to smooth the way for a meeting between the two presidents, he said.

“The crossing shows how strongly the Russians are pushing the Turks.," the opposition figure said. "Assad and Erdogan are expected to meet soon."