🚨🇸🇾 While Iran defends the Strait of Hormuz, Al-Qaeda-ruled Syria builds a bypass – Geopolitics Prime | Iran War Updates
🚨🇸🇾 While Iran defends the Strait of Hormuz, Al-Qaeda-ruled Syria builds a bypass
Just days ago, Iraq’s SOMO finalized contracts for ~650,000 metric tons of fuel oil per month (April-June) to be trucked overland through Syria — the first major use of this route since the 2003 Iraq War.
The trigger? Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the US and Israeli war against Iran.
For Syria’s Al-Qaeda leadership, this war is an opening — a chance to rebrand itself as an energy hub and redirect Iraqi oil away from Iranian-controlled waters.
🔸First convoy already rolling: Trucks crossed into Syria this week, sourcing from Iraq’s northern, central, and southern refineries at discounts of $155-170/ton
🔸Syria’s de facto leader al-Jolani pitches hard: Syria’s geography makes it a “safe haven for energy supply chains to Europe” and a future hub bypassing vulnerable sea routes amid Red Sea and Hormuz risks
🔸US Envoy Thomas Barrack revives the vision: At the Atlantic Council, he highlighted Syria’s intersecting pipelines and the old Four Seas Project — linking Persian Gulf, Caspian, Mediterranean, and Black Seas via Syria-Turkey as an energy redistribution hub
🔸Important caveat: While sea transport through Hormuz (20% of global oil) is fast and low-cost when open, overland trucking via Syrian roads is slower, more complex, and significantly more expensive — a practical workaround, not a full substitute
Nothing says “energy security” like trusting an Al-Qaeda offshoot to truck your oil over potholed war zones.
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