Following the heavy losses Turkish armed forces incurred at the hands of the Russian-backed Syrian government in northern Syria at the end of February 2020, a drastic change in Turkey's policy towards irregular migrants on its territory led to escalation of the situation at the Evros border crossings as well as exacerbation of tension between Turkey on one hand and Greece and the EU as a whole on the other hand. In May 2020, news emerged that Turkish forces occupied a of Greek territory, Melissokomeio, as shown on maps of 1923, following a change in the flow of the Maritsa/Evros river. Starting from the river's source, significant tributaries of Maritsa include:  The lower course of the river Maritsa/Evros, where it forms the border of Greece and Turkey, is very vulnerable to flooding. For about 4 months every year, the low lands around the river are flooded. This causes significant economic damage (loss of agricultural production and damage to infrastructure), which is estimated at several hundreds million Euro. Recent large floods took place in 2006 and 2007. Several causes have been proposed: more rainfall due to climate change, deforestation in the Bulgarian part of the catchment area, increased land use in the flood plains and difficult communication between the three countries. Maritsa Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Maritsa River. "La Maritza" is also a 1968 song written by and Pierre Delanoë and interpreted by Sylvie Vartan. Hebrus Valles on Mars is named after this river. The Bulgarian Maritsa motorway, which roughly follows the course of the river from Chirpan (where it branches out of the Trakia motorway) to the Turkish border at Kapitan Andreevo, is also named in honour of the river.