Momentum builds for Syrian projects
25 May 2026
Support from the US, as well as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has increased expectations about the development of infrastructure projects in Syria.
On 22 May, the US published guides to investing in Syria, funded by the US Department of State, that pointed investors towards 590 planned projects in the country.
The permanent removal of US sanctions in December last year, combined with fallout from the closure and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, has boosted interest in planned projects in the country.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.
The route normally transports about 11 million barrels a day of oil and around 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas, as well as a range of other key materials and consumer goods.
The disruption to shipping through the strait has left nations in the Middle East scrambling to find new routes for imports and exports – and Syria plays a role in many of these new plans.
This has bolstered the country’s plans to become a regional trade hub.
Energy corridors
Already, Iraq is moving a large volume of oil by truck across the country to export it from Syria’s Mediterranean ports, such as Latakia or Tartous.
In April, Iraq’s state-owned oil marketing company, Somo, said it had awarded contracts to supply about 650,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil per month for overland trucking across Syria.
On top of this, Iraq is currently looking into reestablishing a pipeline route that transported oil from Kirkuk to the port of Baniyas in Syria.
The pipeline originally went into operation in April 1952.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the pipeline was damaged by US air strikes and has remained out of operation since then.
There have been repeated attempts to either refurbish the existing pipeline or build a new one along the same route, but none has been successful.
In December 2007, Syria and Iraq agreed to rehabilitate the pipeline. The pipeline was to be reconstructed by Stroytransgaz, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom.
However, Stroytransgaz failed to start the rehabilitation, and the contract was nullified in April 2009.
The disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has added a new urgency to the project to reestablish pipeline flows from Iraq to Baniyas.
Syria could also play a role in plans for a pipeline to transport gas from Qatar to Europe via Syria and Turkiye.
The country could additionally form part of plans to rehabilitate and expand the Arab Gas Pipeline.
The pipeline connects Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, although the Lebanese section is not currently operational.
Trade routes
Beyond oil and gas, Syria is emerging as a key part of other plans for new trade routes.
Earlier this month, Syria’s Transport Minister Yarub Badr said the country was seeking to restore its role as a regional transit corridor linking Europe and the Gulf by reviving cross-border trucking and rehabilitating railway connections with neighbouring countries.
He said the overland corridor between the Turkish and Jordanian borders handled between 100,000 and 115,000 trucks annually in both directions before 2011. Freight rail services also operated between Tartous port and Iraq’s Umm Qasr port via Baghdad in 2009, he added.
He said Syria was coordinating with Turkiye, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to simplify customs and border-crossing procedures and facilitate freight movement.
Railway rehabilitation is expected to take longer due to extensive infrastructure damage and the suspension of cross-border rail links over the past decade.
Badr said Syria is working with the World Bank to secure grants ranging between $65m and $200m to support railway rehabilitation and restore Syria’s role as a regional transit route linking Turkiye, Syria, Jordan and Iraq.
Earlier this month, Syria’s state-owned railway company, the General Establishment for Syrian Railways, and the operator of Syria’s Latakia International Container Terminal signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate container traffic between the Mediterranean port of Latakia and inland freight hubs.
The framework covers feasibility studies for moving containers by rail from Latakia to dry ports in Adra, Hasiya and Aleppo.
The feasibility studies are expected to take four months to complete.
Tartous port
Also this month, executives from the UAE’s DP World and Syria’s General Authority for Borders and Customs (GABC) met to discuss accelerating the development of Syria’s Port of Tartous.
Essa Kazim, chairman of DP World, met with Qutaiba Ahmed Badawi, chairman of GABC, to discuss opportunities to enhance infrastructure and logistics efficiency, ensuring the Port of Tartous is well-equipped to handle the anticipated rise in trade and cargo volume.
DP World’s plans to develop the Port of Tartous form part of a 30-year concession agreement signed in July 2025 with the Syrian government.
Under the agreement, DP World committed to invest $800m to upgrade infrastructure, expand capacity, and introduce modern cargo-handling and advanced digital systems.
DP World has said that, by fast-tracking the development of the Port of Tartous, it aims to boost its operational efficiency and capacity to handle diverse cargo types, including general cargo, containers, breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off traffic.
Rizwan Soomar, DP World’s chief executive and managing director for Central Asia, the Levant and Egypt, said: “The Port of Tartous development marks a defining moment in Syria’s journey of economic recovery and modernisation of its trade infrastructure. We are proud to contribute to this vital phase of growth.”
Located on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, the Port of Tartus is the country’s second-largest port and a key maritime gateway to trade routes across Europe, the Levant and North Africa.
Beyond the port itself, DP World is exploring other opportunities to develop infrastructure in Syria with local stakeholders. These include logistics zones, inland freight hubs and transit corridors.
US interest
US-based companies are also showing significant interest in participating in new projects in the country.
On 19 May, a delegation from the Houston-headquartered engineering company KBR travelled to Damascus to discuss road networks and infrastructure projects in Syria.
During one meeting, Syria’s transport minister outlined strategic projects currently underway, including north-south and east-west corridor projects, the Damascus-Aleppo highway and railway initiatives.
Badr said that companies were needed to update economic and technical studies for some projects.
While Syria and the US both have bold ambitions to expand Syria into a regional trade and logistics hub, the poor state of the country’s infrastructure is likely to be a key challenge.
It is likely that billions of dollars will need to be invested to rehabilitate the country so that its capacity to transport goods returns to levels seen prior to the civil war that began in March 2011.
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