[Produced with Reuters colleagues Jonathan Saul and Maha El Dahan and published here December 19, 2022]

LONDON/DUBAI/BEIRUT, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Using a low-profile fleet of ships under U.S. sanctions, Syria has this year sharply increased wheat imports from the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea that Russia annexed from Ukraine, a sign of tightening economic ties between two allies shunned by the West.