Amid major geopolitical shifts following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a document attributed to Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, outlines an ambitious proposal to reposition Syria as a key transit hub for global energy flows.
The plan focuses not on road transport but on reviving and expanding a huge network of existing and proposed pipelines linking Gulf and Iraqi energy fields to Mediterranean ports and, ultimately, European markets.
At the Antalya diplomacy forum in Turkey this week, Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel commander until recently, told the forum that due to its strategic location the country wants to become an alternative route for energy and goods transportation.
The Syrian leader said his country plans to serve as a safe corridor for major routes between the East and the West with access to the Mediterranean Sea, linking the Gulf and Turkey through Jordan as well.
Pipeline network
A document obtained by SRMG’s Al-Majalla website suggests that the term “land bridge,” used by Barrack refers specifically to underground pipeline corridors intended as an alternative to vulnerable maritime routes.
Proposed and ongoing projects would include the revival of the Kirkuk–Baniyas oil pipeline linking Iraq to the Mediterranean via Syria, estimated to cost $4.5bn (€3.8bn), as well as the Qatar–Turkey gas pipeline, a strategic initiative designed to transport gas from Qatar’s North Field through Jordan and Syria to Turkey and onwards to Europe.
Existing infrastructure would also be expanded according to the plan, including the Azerbaijan–Kilis–Aleppo gas line, which entered service in August 2025, and plans to extend the Arab Gas Pipeline from Egypt through Syria to Turkey.
Alongside these cross-border projects, efforts are underway to rehabilitate more than 1,000 kilometres of domestic network infrastructure in northeast Syria, as well as to construct new export routes.
The document argues that increased risks to maritime chokepoints, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, are driving interest in overland alternatives.
It quotes Barrack as saying that when sea routes are “weaponized,” secure land-based supply chains become a strategic necessity, “whatever the cost, which may exceed the calculations of market economies”.
Scepticism over feasibility
Sarkis Kassarjian, a journalist specialising on Turkey and the Middle East, dismissed the proposal as a repackaging of long-standing ideas.
He told Euronews the concept was “not new,” noting that proposals to turn Syria into an energy transit route date back to the early 2000s.
He argued that Syria lacks the infrastructure, stability and geographic advantage compared with alternatives such as Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports, Israeli Mediterranean ports and Turkish energy corridors.
“These countries have the infrastructure, harbours and ports that make them more suitable for such projects than Damascus,” he said.
Kassarjian also questioned the security and governance conditions required to sustain such infrastructure, describing them as significant obstacles in the region.
He added that more realistic projects exist elsewhere, including the Kirkuk-Ceyhan line between Iraq and Turkey, supported by regional partners.
Security and governance dilemmas
In terms of infrastructure and security, Kassarjian warns that “establishing a new pipeline network, maintaining and repairing this network, guarding it and ensuring its security and safety are all very difficult and complex [things], especially in a geography like that of the Middle East.”
He warned that building and maintaining cross-border pipeline infrastructure would require long-term stability, governance capacity and security guarantees that remain uncertain.
He also pointed to limited progress on reconstruction efforts in Syria, saying that broader economic recovery remains dependent on political stability and institutional reform.lf
Kassarjian concludes by casting scepticism on the entire reconstruction process, arguing that “the internal Syrian issue is the main [problem]”.
He explained that reconstruction and development are fundamentally linked to the whole Syrian file, meaning stability of power, internal stability and security, reform of the judicial system, and full transparency in governance and management of institutions.
He added that “more than a year and a half after the formation of the government, we have not seen any progress on the issue of reconstruction in Syria.”
=Kassarjian believes the Syrian economy is still based “primarily on the direct financial support of countries that support the authority in Damascus,” noting that this support is “very limited,” although it has not diminished as a result of the recent war.
Technically possible, but challenging
Syrian engineer Ghassan al-Rai, an expert in the petroleum sector, offered a more cautious assessment, saying the project is technically feasible but dependent on three factors: financing, security and political agreements.
He said much of Syria’s basic pipeline infrastructure still exists, including former pumping stations and sections of export routes used before 2011.
Al-Rai explained that pipelines are typically buried underground and can, in principle, be repaired or expanded using existing engineering methods.
He added that multiple pipelines and additional pumping stations could significantly increase capacity if required.
Regarding the amount of oil that can be transported, al-Rai explains that a single pipeline can have a capacity of around one million barrels per day, while oil centres in the Gulf export around 20 million barrels per day.
However, Al-Rai acknowledged major constraints, including a shortage of skilled technical labour following years of conflict, with many engineers having left the country.
“We lack expertise today in Syria. Most of the young professionals, I would say eighty per cent of those who used to work with us are now in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. They all left. Because there has been no work in Syria for ten or twelve years.”
He suggested that, with sufficient funding, expertise could be sourced internationally or through the return of expatriate Syrian professionals.
“Technically, it is possible. The question is whether the financing, security and political agreements are in place,” he said.