[News] Battle in Suwayda: Where Israel and Turkiye clash over Syria’s trade routes

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Battle in Suwayda: Where Israel and Turkiye clash over Syria’s trade routes

In post-Assad Syria, Druze-majority Suwayda emerges as ground zero in the
regional war to dominate land routes linking the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean.

Malek al-Khoury <https://thecradle.co/authors/malek-al-khoury-105>

JUL 18, 2025 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/battle-in-suwayda-where-israel-and-turkiye-clash-over-syrias-trade-routes
Photo Credit: The Cradle

With the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the ascent of
Ahmad al-Sharaa (Abu Muhammad al-Julani) to power in Damascus – with
backing from Turkiye – Syria has shifted from an integral part of the Axis
of Resistance to contested terrain between rival regional projects.

Two competing visions have emerged: Turkiye's “Development Road
<https://thecradle.co/articles/erdogan-announces-new-silk-road-linking-iraq-to-turkiye>,”
a proposed transport corridor connecting Basra to Turkiye and onward to
Europe; and Israel's “Peace Line
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180116-israel-plans-for-railway-connecting-it-with-saudi-arabia/>,”
which aims to link the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean via Jordan and the
occupied port of Haifa.
Map of The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a planned
project aiming to connect India, West Asia, and Europe,

*The regional battle for Syria's southern gateway*

These infrastructure corridors are not mere economic initiatives; they are
the battlegrounds of a new regional order. Suwayda
<https://thecradle.co/articles/ambiguity-surrounds-suwayda-ceasefire-as-druze-leader-vows-resistance>,
long viewed as peripheral, has become a strategic flashpoint in this war of
logistics. This Druze-majority province has become a potential gateway to a
regional war over trade and transportation corridors. These plans extend
into neighboring Lebanon, <https://thecradle.co/articles-id/29671> too.

The strategic weight of Suwayda stems from its location at the nexus of
these rival projects. The province could serve as a vital artery for
Ankara's overland ambitions or as a chokepoint threatening Tel Aviv's
efforts to bypass
<https://thecradle.co/articles/how-turkiye-bypasses-its-own-israel-trade-ban-via-greece>
Turkish and Iranian territories.

Thus, the vital southern Syrian governorate of Suwayda suddenly finds
itself on the frontline – not due to a dispute over a localized conflict,
but because it is a strategic key in the railway battle where roads become
borders and pipelines turn into fronts.

Meanwhile, Suwayda’s Druze religious leadership issued a strongly worded
statement rejecting the use of their region as a bridge for foreign
projects that ignore their sovereignty or existence. The statement
declared, “Those betting on the violation of Suwayda will lose. The
mountain’s fate will be decided in the mountain itself.”

The elders emphasized Suwayda’s geography as a crossroads and demanded the
opening of land corridors with Jordan and with areas held by the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF) in the north.

*The Old-New Katz Project*

In November 2018, then-transport minister and current Israeli Defense chief
Israel Katz unveiled
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/7/israeli-minister-in-oman-to-attend-transport-conference?>
at an international transport conference in Oman the “Railway of Peace”
project, aiming to connect Persian Gulf countries to Israel via Jordan, as
part of a strategic plan to boost economic integration and link West Asian
markets to Israeli Mediterranean ports.

Katz, who arrived less than two weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s surprise meeting
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/26/israels-netanyahu-meets-sultan-qaboos-in-surprise-oman-trip>
with the late Sultan Qaboos in Muscat presented the project as a massive
infrastructure undertaking involving railway lines linking the port of
Haifa in northern Israel to Gulf cities via the Jordanian capital Amman,
with the possibility of connecting Palestinians to Haifa port to facilitate
trade exchange.

Katz said during the conference:

“This project is not just a bridge for transport, but a bridge for peace
and economy among the region’s peoples. We aim to create faster, cheaper,
and safer transportation, opening new horizons for economic and political
cooperation.”

He added:

“The Railway of Peace will allow avoiding security risks at the Strait of
Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab and open vital alternatives for shipping goods
between the Gulf and Europe.”

The project stands out as an important alternative, allowing Persian Gulf
states to bypass security threats at the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/15999>, providing a safer and cheaper
land route for goods transport, with significant economic benefits for all
participating countries, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, other
Gulf states, and potentially Iraq and Syria.

The project also plans to establish modern logistics centers, such as the
cargo zone in Irbid, Jordan, to boost the local economy.

Katz highlighted the project’s importance for Palestinians, saying, “By
connecting Palestinians to Haifa port, we give them a chance to participate
in global trade, which will bring them economic and social benefits.”

Jordan and occupied Palestine’s inclusion were floated as economic
sweeteners. But the true aim was regional hegemony through infrastructure.

While Katz’s statements were laced with euphemisms about peace and
development, the underlying logic was clear: use transport infrastructure
to normalize Israel's regional role while locking out Iranian and Turkish
competitors.

Despite most Arab states involved lacking official diplomatic relations
with Israel, the project received clear American support, with then US
envoy Jason Greenblatt considering it part of Washington’s efforts to push
the “Deal of the Century” for regional peace.

*Geoeconomics as political warfare*

Alongside the Turkish–Israeli competition over railway corridors through
southern Syria, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious project NEOM
<https://thecradle.co/articles/saudis-neom-city-in-the-desert-project-falters-amid-gaza-war>
– along with the infrastructure system linked to the UAE’s Al-Ain 2030
<https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/what-is-the-most-exciting-aspect-of-the-al-ain-2030-plan-1.492616>
– emerges as a third actor reshaping the geopolitical game.

The project aims to transform northwestern Saudi Arabia into a global
economic and logistical hub, including railway lines and transport networks
extending from the heart of the Arabian Peninsula to the Red Sea,
inevitably repositioning regional trade routes.

This shift directly ties into Tel Aviv’s plans to build a railway line
stretching from Eilat (adjacent to NEOM) to Aqaba, then to southern Syria,
and onward to Beirut or Tripoli.

This functions as a land-based extension of NEOM – and a strategic
complement to Riyadh’s ambition to bypass chokepoints like the Strait of
Hormuz
<https://thecradle.co/articles/bypassing-hormuz-saudi-arabias-pipeline-push-in-yemens-al-mahra>
by linking the Gulf to the Mediterranean.

Here, Suwayda becomes an indispensable strategic node that could serve as
the gateway crossing from Syria's occupied Golan to Kurdish controlled
areas in Syria and Iraq.

The Israeli media and officials have at times referred to this as the route
of “David's Corridor” – a corridor that reimagines Israel’s role in the
region through infrastructural dominance, fusing settler colonialism with
logistics.
Map of David's Corridor, a planned project aiming to connect Israel to
Kurdish controlled areas in Syria and Iraq

In other words, NEOM’s rise as a maritime-land axis enhances the
geopolitical value of the Aqaba–Suwayda line, pushing the occupation state
to be more stringent. For Tel Aviv, any Turkish expansion
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/32007> southward is an existential threat
to these designs. For Ankara, securing Suwayda is essential to asserting
influence over the Levant's southern flank.

*Suwayda becomes the battlefield*

Before setting his sights on Suwayda, Sharaa's rise was marked by brutal
campaigns in the coastal region, including massacres of Alawite
<https://thecradle.co/articles/in-syria-an-unhinged-massacre-of-alawite-civilians>
communities that cleared space for Turkish-backed dominance. With those
operations complete, attention turned south
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/30404> toward the Druze stronghold.

In the post-Assad vacuum, Sharaa chose Suwayda as the base for
consolidating power and advancing Turkiye's project – with the aim of
securing Syria's southern border crossings, creating strategic depth, and
extending influence toward Lebanon and Jordan.

Turkiye backed this trajectory through direct and indirect agreements with
Syrian factions aligned with it, particularly Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),
which now plays a central role in administering areas from Idlib to the
eastern Hama countryside, where the desert meets the roads leading south
toward Suwayda.

Ankara’s ambitions have also expanded toward Lebanon – especially the
northern city of Tripoli and its surroundings – where it has built social,
political, and economic influence through networks of institutions,
associations, and newly naturalized citizens.

The port of Tripoli, which Turkiye hopes to transform into an alternative
to Beirut’s port, is envisioned as a key station along the regional transit
route.

Sharaa based part of this conviction on secret understandings made in the
Azerbaijani capital, Baku
<https://thecradle.co/articles/syria-azerbaijan-renew-ties-amid-secret-talks-with-israel>,
involving Syrian and Israeli figures under unofficial Turkish auspices.
These understandings were interpreted as implicit approval for his
southward expansion, in exchange for guarantees against the return of Iranian
influence
<https://thecradle.co/articles/axis-of-encirclement-azerbaijan-israel-and-turkiye-close-in-on-iran>
and Turkish commitments not to threaten Israeli security.

But this ambition triggered an Israeli red line. Netanyahu warned of the
emergence of a “new southern Lebanon” in Syria. Katz declared, “the Druze
are our brothers, and we will not leave them alone facing this expansion,”
signalling readiness to intervene. Soon after, Israeli warplanes targeted
<https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-bombs-vicinity-of-syrian-presidential-palace-in-clear-warning-to-sharaa>
Damascus and Sharaa-aligned units advancing
<https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-bombs-syrian-tanks-in-suwayda-as-druze-call-for-international-protection>
south.

Ankara, meanwhile, has publicly reasserted its own red lines. Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated
<https://radar.am/en/news/world-2705520710/> after a cabinet meeting on 17
July:

“We did not agree to the division of Syria yesterday, nor today, and we
will categorically not agree tomorrow. Those who descend from the well,
holding on to the rope of Israel, will sooner or later realize what a
serious mistake they have made.”

In reality, there is no open confrontation between Turkiye and Israel, but
a tacit division of spoils
<https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-and-turkiye-in-syria-no-clash-just-a-division-of-spoils>,
with each pursuing its own corridor ambitions while managing the conflict
through proxies and backchannels.

*The vegetable truck incident*

The security explosion in Suwayda did not arise from an explicit political
decision but was triggered by a seemingly minor incident: a dispute over
the cargo of a vegetable truck at a checkpoint. Intelligence information
later revealed that this incident was the spark igniting a wide clash
involving local Druze groups, Sharaa’s HTS-led factions, and remnants of
armed groups unofficially reintegrated on the ground with indirect Turkish
support.

The incident quickly escalated into an open battle involving Israeli
reconnaissance drones, local armored units, and armed groups bearing
conflicting flags – some close to Ankara, others linked to extremist
organizations recently reactivated. Within a week, over 700 were dead.

*Washington watches, regulates, but won’t decide*

The US was not absent from the scene. Washington expressed its welcome to
Sharaa’s assumption of power on multiple occasions, seeing him as an
internationally acceptable figure compared to the previous government.
However, it did not grant him a free mandate to move southward.

US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, clearly stated that Washington supports
Syria’s territorial unity but simultaneously warned against unilateral
actions that could threaten regional stability.

In truth, Washington's role has grown – but as an observer rather than an
active player. This passivity has created room for regional powers like
Turkiye and Israel to draw new influence maps across a devastated Syrian
geography.

Washington appeared keen to regulate the pace but was unwilling to make a
decisive decision. It seeks to avoid direct confrontation with Turkiye or
Israel, but is also not ready to allow unchecked Turkish expansion.

*The war of projects*

The battle for Suwayda is not really about sectarianism
<https://thecradle.co/articles/druze-vs-sunni-israels-sectarian-game-in-syria>
or governance. It is a war between two infrastructural visions: one
Turkish, one Israeli. Each project aims to dictate the routes of trade,
energy, and influence in post-Assad Syria.

Sharaa, despite his roots
<https://thecradle.co/articles/julani-in-a-suit-how-france-turned-a-pariah-into-a-partner>
in Al-Qaeda and ISIS, has become a placeholder for Turkish interests. But
without genuine alliances or internal legitimacy, he faces the full weight
of Israeli hostility.

The Battle of Suwayda is the first real test for the post-Assad era. Its
outcome will shape not only Syria's future borders, but the entire
transport and power map of the region. It will also determine whether the
new Syria will follow Turkiye’s Development Road or Israel’s so-called
Peace Line.
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