Even as a UAE real estate major is set to fund a $7 billion project in Syria, the post-Assad regime has now offered to provide an alternative overland route to the choked Strait of Hormuz, thereby allowing smooth transportation of oil and gas to Europe and northern Africa.
The move could be a game changer as Syria serves as a bridge between the Mediterranean Sea and the interior of the Arab world through ports like Baniyas. Currently, around 5,000 oil trucks are running daily between southern Iraq and Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday welcomed the move by sharing a Washington Post report on social media and wrote, "This is GREAT! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP."
With Trump lifting sanctions on Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, the government under Ahmed al-Sharaa is going ahead with a US-backed 1,000-mile pipeline linking Iran's key oil-producing region in Basra and Syria's Baniyas port, according to the Washington Post. Once functional, the $5.7 billion pipeline could transport up to two million barrels of crude oil daily.
However, the scope of the project is much larger as Gulf nations have expressed interest in the project. Qatar has floated the idea of extending the proposed pipeline network while also building another pipeline to transport liquefied natural gas.
The proposal become all the more important as Saudi Arabia's move to divert it oil towards Red Sea has come under attacks from Yemen-based Iranian proxy group Houthis.
The development comes amid UAE-based Arada inked a $7 billion joint venture deal with the state-owned Syrian Sovereign Fund. The project's first phase includes a fully integrated city called New Damascus. It spans 4 million square metre and is located on a plateau near the Mezzeh district, around 10 minutes from Damascus city centre. The project comprises a 7 lakh square metre public park, 11,000 homes, including villas, townhouses and apartments, 500 hotel rooms, 1,000 serviced apartments, a 300-bed hospital and more.
