Trump’s Backing And Syria’s Bet: Why Baniyas Port Cannot Replace The Strait of Hormuz?

The disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has given Syria an unexpected strategic opening.

The state news agency reported that about 5,000 oil-laden trucks a day are moving from southern Iraq through Syria towards Baniyas, following an April experiment aimed at bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. The development has now drawn praise from US President Donald Trump, who on Thursday reposted a report on Syria’s emergence as an alternative energy and trade corridor and commented: “This is GREAT!"

Syria is also seeking to expand its role as an overland corridor connecting Iraq and the wider Gulf region with the Mediterranean. The state news agency said the Trump administration has expressed support for a proposal involving Chevron to build a pipeline linking Basra in southern Iraq with Baniyas on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The proposed pipeline would have a capacity of 2 million barrels per day, cost about $5.7 billion and take at least two-and-a-half years to build.

That raises a larger question: can Syria turn Baniyas into a meaningful alternative energy corridor when Hormuz is under pressure, or is the comparison overstating what the Syrian route can actually achieve?

What Is Already Moving?

The emerging corridor is currently largely road-based.

The first convoy carrying Iraqi fuel towards Baniyas involved 299 tankers. The fuel is transported into Syria, stored and then transferred for onward movement. Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil has also independently documented the movement of Iraqi petroleum products through Baniyas.

Earlier last month, Baniyas had received 108 tankers carrying around 3.23 million tonnes of petroleum products since the beginning of 2026, with more than 2 million tonnes of Iraqi oil moving through the port in transit. In July 2026, the port received 64,324 tonnes of diesel and 5,620.3 tonnes of liquefied gas into storage.

The figures show that Baniyas is already handling Iraqi energy flows rather than merely being discussed as a future option. But the present road traffic is still very different from the scale of the proposed pipeline.

The $5.7bn Pipeline

The bigger ambition is a proposed overland pipeline linking Iraq’s southern oil-producing region to Baniyas.

State news agency reported that Trump administration had expressed support for a proposal involving Chevron for a 2-million-barrel-per-day Basra-Baniyas pipeline. The reported proposal is valued at about $5.7 billion, with construction expected to take at least two-and-a-half years.

That remains a proposal rather than an operating project.

Its scale, however, illustrates why Baniyas has become strategically significant. A pipeline capable of carrying 2 million barrels a day would create a direct overland route from Iraq to the Mediterranean, allowing crude to reach the sea without travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

And a 2-million-barrel-per-day pipeline would still depend on storage, pumping, port handling and onward maritime capacity to reach international buyers.

The proposed pipeline therefore represents more than a Syrian port expansion. It would require an entire logistics chain linking Iraqi oil production, Syrian transit infrastructure and Mediterranean export capacity.

Why Does Hormuz Matter?

Hormuz is a major maritime chokepoint for Gulf energy exports.

A route through Syria would change the geography for Iraqi oil by shifting part of that movement from sea to land before reaching the Mediterranean. The advantage is not that it eliminates the need for maritime trade, but that it avoids one particular maritime chokepoint for those flows.

Baniyas would instead serve a specific overland route from Iraq to the Mediterranean. It could therefore diversify Iraq’s export options without replacing the broader Gulf shipping system.

Why Syria Sees An Opportunity

For Damascus, the attraction goes beyond transit activity.

Syria has been seeking investment to rehabilitate its energy infrastructure and revive economic activity. Its geographical position gives it a potential role in connecting Iraq and the wider region to Mediterranean markets.

Syria produced 14.8 million barrels of crude oil during the first half of 2026, while the government pursued agreements and contracts aimed at developing the country’s energy sector.

The potential expansion of Baniyas could therefore support several objectives at once: greater transit activity, investment in infrastructure, increased port use and a larger role for Syria in regional energy logistics.

The opportunity also extends beyond oil. The state news agency said Syria has signed agreements with Türkiye and Saudi Arabia to rehabilitate a railway connecting Europe with the Red Sea through Syrian territory, while agreements with Iraq are intended to facilitate the movement of goods from the Gulf towards Europe through Syria.

Syria is therefore trying to use its geography not only as an energy route, but as a broader transport and trade corridor.

Why Baniyas Cannot Replace Hormuz

The most important limitation is scale.

Hormuz is a global maritime chokepoint through which energy from multiple Gulf producers reaches international markets. Baniyas would instead be one Mediterranean outlet in a much narrower supply chain.

Even a 2-million-barrel-per-day pipeline would represent only one route serving primarily Iraqi production. It would also depend on functioning pipeline, pumping, storage, port-handling and maritime export infrastructure to reach international buyers.

The route also faces infrastructure and security challenges. The state news agency noted that pumping stations and oil infrastructure require rehabilitation and investment, while roads along the transport corridors need further work and stronger safety measures.

Syria would therefore need to maintain the road corridor that is already operating while developing much more extensive energy infrastructure if the pipeline proposal ever moves forward. Baniyas would also have to handle greater volumes alongside its existing role as a domestic energy terminal.

A Corridor, Not A Replacement

What is emerging around Baniyas is best understood as a diversification strategy.

The immediate movement of Iraqi petroleum products through Syria demonstrates that an alternative route is already being used. The proposed pipeline represents a much larger ambition that could eventually transform Baniyas into a Mediterranean outlet for Iraqi crude.

But the distinction between an alternative route and a replacement for Hormuz remains crucial.

Baniyas can help bypass Hormuz for specific Iraqi flows. It cannot recreate the scale, network and international significance of the Strait itself.

For Syria, the real bet is therefore not that Baniyas can become the next Hormuz. It is whether Damascus can turn an increasingly valuable geographic position into the infrastructure, investment and security needed to make the Mediterranean corridor durable.