First Trucks Cross to Iraq
Gasoline has begun moving by road from Syria to Iraq, opening a land energy corridor that Baghdad is building as an alternative trade route. The first cargo, about 32,800 metric tons of gasoline, arrived at the Mediterranean port of Baniyas aboard a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker before being pumped into storage tanks at the Baniyas refinery and loaded onto trucks.
By 27 September 2026, an official at the state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company said 77 tanker trucks had already left Baniyas for the Iraqi border, with loading continuing and further shipments expected in the days ahead.
A Transit Deal, Not Domestic Fuel
The gasoline was neither produced in Syria nor drawn from stocks set aside for the domestic market. It moves under a transit contract between the Syrian Petroleum Company and a Qatar-based firm that supplied the fuel and is overseeing its transport across the country.
On the Iraqi side, a spokesperson for the oil ministry said the country's state marketing organization had signed a contract with the same Qatari company to bring improved gasoline into Iraq through Baniyas by road tanker.
Bypassing the Strait of Hormuz
Iraq turned to the overland Syrian route after fighting disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, its main Gulf trade artery. Officials indicated Baghdad intends to keep developing alternative corridors through Syria even if shipping through the strait returns to normal.
A Two-Way Route
A second Marshall Islands-flagged tanker loaded gasoline at the US port of Houston and sailed to Baniyas, pointing to a steady flow of cargoes into the Syrian terminal. Earlier in 2026, shipments ran the other way, with fuel oil trucked from Iraq to Syrian ports and then shipped onward, reaching the United States for the first time.
The current agreement covers gasoline, but officials said future deals could widen the corridor to other petroleum products, crude oil, and additional goods, deepening Syria's role as a transit hub.