With the Iran war disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Syria is making an unexpected geopolitical play: positioning itself as a new energy corridor for West Asia. Damascus is promoting its Mediterranean coastline and emerging transit links as a workaround to one of the world’s most vulnerable chokepoints — and former US President Donald Trump has publicly endorsed the idea, calling it “GREAT!”
Syria’s pitch centres on the port of Baniyas, which it hopes to transform into a major gateway for oil and goods headed to global markets. The proposal gained momentum after Iraqi exporters began trucking crude oil from southern Iraq to Baniyas earlier this year to bypass Hormuz. Around 5,000 oil trucks per day are now moving along this route, signalling Syria’s potential to reshape regional trade flows.
Damascus is also pushing a far more ambitious plan: a 1,000‑mile pipeline from Basra (Iraq) to Baniyas (Syria). Backed by the Trump administration and involving Chevron, the estimated $5.7‑billion project could eventually transport up to 2 million barrels per day. Construction, however, would take at least two and a half years, and would require unprecedented security guarantees.
Syria’s ambitions extend beyond oil. President Ahmed al‑Sharaa is promoting transport links that could connect Europe with the Gulf and Red Sea, turning Syria into a regional logistics hub. But analysts warn of major obstacles: militant threats to pipelines, financing challenges, and infrastructure risks in a country still recovering from conflict and sanctions.
Even so, the Hormuz crisis has given Damascus an opening to revive long‑stalled infrastructure dreams — and global energy markets are watching closely.