Three months after Syria’s 14-year-old civil war ended, and as the holy month of Ramadan begins, euphoria is being replaced by anger at the continuing atrophying of the economy and at the apparent inability of the new government to reverse it.

Russia shipped a diesel cargo to Syria onboard a tanker under U.S. sanctions, the first known such direct supply to the Middle Eastern country in more than a decade, LSEG data showed. The final destination of the cargo is unclear.

Syria received a new shipment of its local currency printed in Russia on Wednesday and more shipments were expected in the future, a Syrian government official said, in a new sign of improving ties between Moscow and Syria's new rulers.

A deadly clash erupted in Syria on Thursday between security forces and gunmen loyal to ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, leaving 48 people dead.

Russia has sought a rapprochement with Syria’s new rulers, including with an injection of cash for Syria’s central bank.

Fierce fighting between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad killed 48 people on Thursday, a war monitor said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes in the coastal town of Jableh and adjacent villages were "the most violent attacks against the new authorities since Assad was toppled" in December.

The conflict poses a challenge for the new interim president as he tries to unify Syria and extend his authority over the entire country.

Syria's national dialogue, held in Damascus at the end of February, was intended to chart the country's future, one that would have been unthinkable just three months earlier. However, the process and outcomes of the dialogue were flawed,

PHUONG PHAM is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

"A confrontation, possibly even a small-scale military one, may occur between Israel and Turkey," one expert told Newsweek.