The U.S.-Israel war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have inflicted severe damage on the global economy and exposed the vulnerability of traditional energy and trade routes. This disruption, combined with the threat of a Houthi blockade in the Red Sea, has intensified concerns over the security and reliability of existing maritime corridors. Amid this uncertainty, the search for alternative routes has accelerated, bringing new land and sea corridors into sharper focus.
In this context, Türkiye has emerged as a key actor seeking both to develop new routes and revive older connectivity projects. Through railways, roads, ports and pipelines, Türkiye aims to strengthen East-West and North-South connectivity while reducing dependence on increasingly unreliable traditional routes. The Middle Corridor and the Development Road projects, respectively linking China and the Persian Gulf to Europe, stand at the center of these initiatives. Yet a newly relevant but increasingly significant actor is also becoming central to Türkiye’s strategy of regional and international connectivity: Syria.
Having emerged from a long and brutal civil war, Syria is no longer defined by conflict and instability. On the contrary, it was ironically among the states in the Middle East least affected by the latest U.S.-Israel confrontation with Iran. This insulation underscores the extent to which Syria has begun to move beyond its recent past after the fall of the Assad regime.
Syria’s gradual movement toward greater stability, coupled with its geography at the heart of the Middle East, makes it an attractive candidate for linking different regions. At a time when strategic chokepoints are vulnerable to closure or disruption, Syria’s position between the Gulf, the Mediterranean, Türkiye and broader Eurasian trade networks gives it renewed significance as a potential corridor state.
During the transitional period following the regime’s fall, Ankara has established close relations with the new Syrian authorities across several key strategic sectors, including defense, energy, transportation and infrastructure. As a result, Türkiye has a direct stake in Syria’s long-term security and stability. More importantly, based on a win-win formula, Ankara seeks to position Syria as an integral component of its broader regional connectivity vision, linking energy, trade and transport corridors across several regions.
First and foremost, for Türkiye, Syria represents the gateway to the Middle East and its most direct land access to the wider region. With the fall of the Assad regime and Syria’s gradual stabilization, Türkiye’s overland connection to the rest of the Middle East has become operational once again after a 14-year hiatus caused by the Syrian civil war. Beyond this, Syria’s strategic location gives it the potential to connect the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea through an initiative aptly named the “Four Seas Project.”
Proposed by Türkiye in 2009, the Four Seas Project sought to promote Syria’s role as a connector state linking the surrounding geographies. However, the project was shelved after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Now that the war has ended and the search for alternative trade corridors has gained momentum, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani announced in Ankara in April 2026 that the two countries would revive the initiative as part of their emerging “strategic partnership.”
Through railways, roads and pipelines, the project could enable both Türkiye and Syria to emerge as central transit hubs for energy security and trade networks. For Syria, in particular, the initiative could also support the reconstruction of critical infrastructure and contribute to long-term economic recovery and stability.
Regional and international actors have expressed support for Türkiye’s efforts in this direction, raising hopes that Syria can become a key regional transit and trade hub connecting neighboring regions. For example, Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, has promoted the project as an alternative route to both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. Jordan and the Gulf states are also major stakeholders, as the Turkish-Syrian corridor would connect the Gulf region with Europe. Likewise, the European Union’s recent restoration of a cooperation framework with Syria suggests that Europe also supports initiatives aimed at transforming Syria into a land corridor linking Europe with the Middle East.
Türkiye’s efforts to operationalize the “Syria corridor” initially focused on improving coordination between Ankara, Damascus and Amman, particularly through the smoother functioning of border crossings and customs procedures, as well as the development of road and railway infrastructure.
Following the recent regional escalation, these initiatives accelerated, culminating in a trilateral agreement among the three countries to revive the historic Hejaz Railway project and connect it to Saudi Arabia’s railway network. Once completed, the project could provide a direct land corridor between the Gulf region and Europe, effectively bypassing both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. The arrival of the first Turkish transit convoys in Iraq via Syrian territory is another important indicator of Syria’s emerging role as a corridor state, as well as Türkiye’s central role in enabling this transformation.
These recent initiatives demonstrate the extent to which Türkiye is determined to integrate Syria into its wider connectivity strategy. What Türkiye seeks to achieve is the creation of a new regional narrative based on positive-sum strategies, bringing together as many regional actors as possible around the shared goals of security, cooperation and economic development in the Middle East. Syria represents a key test case for this Turkish approach.
There is now a broad regional consensus on the importance of Syria’s stability, as well as on its potential viability as a transit corridor offering an alternative to traditional trade routes. If these efforts come to fruition, Syria stands to gain significantly from becoming a key hub for trade, transport and energy connectivity. More broadly, this vision could provide a blueprint for long-term peace and security in the Middle East based on trade, development and regional integration. By strengthening regionalization and connectivity, such an approach would not only enhance Syria’s recovery but also contribute to a more cooperative regional order.
