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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-"> Battle in Suwayda: Where Israel and Turkiye clash over Syria\u2019s trade routes</h1><p class="gmail-">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.</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/malek-al-khoury-105" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">Malek al-Khoury</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">JUL 18, 2025 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/battle-in-suwayda-where-israel-and-turkiye-clash-over-syrias-trade-routes">https://thecradle.co/articles/battle-in-suwayda-where-israel-and-turkiye-clash-over-syrias-trade-routes</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/3c59ee88-63e8-11f0-826b-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="467" height="221" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span class="gmail-article-body"><p>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 \u2013 with
backing from Turkiye \u2013 Syria has shifted from an integral part of the
Axis of Resistance to contested terrain between rival regional projects.</p><p>Two competing visions have emerged: Turkiye's \u201c<a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/erdogan-announces-new-silk-road-linking-iraq-to-turkiye">Development Road</a>,\u201d a proposed transport corridor connecting Basra to Turkiye and onward to Europe; and Israel's \u201c<a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180116-israel-plans-for-railway-connecting-it-with-saudi-arabia/">Peace Line</a>,\u201d which aims to link the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean via Jordan and the occupied port of Haifa.</p><img style="aspect-ratio: 1200 / 1200; margin-right: 25px;" src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/2af5ffd6-63ea-11f0-ac55-00163e02c055.png" width="467" height="467"><span style="color:rgb(77,77,77)"><sub><sup>Map of The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a planned project aiming to connect India, West Asia, and Europe,</sup></sub></span><p><strong>The regional battle for Syria's southern gateway</strong></p><p>These infrastructure corridors are not mere economic initiatives; they are the battlegrounds of a new regional order. <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/ambiguity-surrounds-suwayda-ceasefire-as-druze-leader-vows-resistance">Suwayda</a>,
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 <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/29671">Lebanon,</a> too.</p><p>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 <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/how-turkiye-bypasses-its-own-israel-trade-ban-via-greece">bypass</a> Turkish and Iranian territories.</p><p>Thus,
the vital southern Syrian governorate of Suwayda suddenly finds itself
on the frontline \u2013 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.</p><p>Meanwhile, Suwayda\u2019s 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, \u201cThose betting on the
violation of Suwayda will lose. The mountain\u2019s fate will be decided in
the mountain itself.\u201d</p><p>The elders emphasized Suwayda\u2019s 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.</p><p><strong>The Old-New Katz Project</strong></p><p>In November 2018, then-transport minister and current Israeli Defense chief Israel Katz <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/7/israeli-minister-in-oman-to-attend-transport-conference?">unveiled</a>
at an international transport conference in Oman the \u201cRailway of Peace\u201d
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. </p><p>Katz, who arrived less than two weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/26/israels-netanyahu-meets-sultan-qaboos-in-surprise-oman-trip">surprise meeting</a>
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.</p><p>Katz said during the conference: </p><blockquote><p>\u201cThis
project is not just a bridge for transport, but a bridge for peace and
economy among the region\u2019s peoples. We aim to create faster, cheaper,
and safer transportation, opening new horizons for economic and
political cooperation.\u201d </p></blockquote><p>He added: </p><blockquote><p>\u201cThe
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.\u201d</p></blockquote><p>The project stands out
as an important alternative, allowing Persian Gulf states to bypass
security threats at the Strait of Hormuz and <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/15999">Bab al-Mandab</a>,
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.</p><p>The project also plans to establish modern logistics
centers, such as the cargo zone in Irbid, Jordan, to boost the local
economy.</p><p>Katz highlighted the project\u2019s importance for
Palestinians, saying, \u201cBy connecting Palestinians to Haifa port, we give
them a chance to participate in global trade, which will bring them
economic and social benefits.\u201d</p><p>Jordan and occupied Palestine\u2019s
inclusion were floated as economic sweeteners. But the true aim was
regional hegemony through infrastructure.</p><p>While Katz\u2019s 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.</p><p>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\u2019s efforts to push the
\u201cDeal of the Century\u201d for regional peace.</p><p><strong>Geoeconomics as political warfare</strong></p><p>Alongside the Turkish\u2013Israeli competition over railway corridors through southern Syria, Saudi Arabia\u2019s ambitious project <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/saudis-neom-city-in-the-desert-project-falters-amid-gaza-war">NEOM</a> \u2013 along with the infrastructure system linked to the UAE\u2019s <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/what-is-the-most-exciting-aspect-of-the-al-ain-2030-plan-1.492616">Al-Ain 2030</a> \u2013 emerges as a third actor reshaping the geopolitical game. </p><p>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.</p><p>This shift
directly ties into Tel Aviv\u2019s plans to build a railway line stretching
from Eilat (adjacent to NEOM) to Aqaba, then to southern Syria, and
onward to Beirut or Tripoli. </p><p>This functions as a land-based
extension of NEOM \u2013 and a strategic complement to Riyadh\u2019s ambition to
bypass chokepoints like the <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/bypassing-hormuz-saudi-arabias-pipeline-push-in-yemens-al-mahra">Strait of Hormuz</a> by linking the Gulf to the Mediterranean.</p><p>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.</p><p>The Israeli media and officials have at
times referred to this as the route of \u201cDavid's Corridor\u201d \u2013 a corridor
that reimagines Israel\u2019s role in the region through infrastructural
dominance, fusing settler colonialism with logistics.</p><img style="aspect-ratio: 1206 / 788; margin-right: 25px;" src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/6b4aee4e-63ee-11f0-b813-00163e02c055.png" width="467" height="305"><span style="color:rgb(77,77,77)"><sub><sup>Map of David's Corridor, a planned project aiming to connect Israel to Kurdish controlled areas in Syria and Iraq</sup></sub></span><p>In
other words, NEOM\u2019s rise as a maritime-land axis enhances the
geopolitical value of the Aqaba\u2013Suwayda line, pushing the occupation
state to be more stringent. For Tel Aviv, any <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/32007">Turkish expansion</a>
southward is an existential threat to these designs. For Ankara,
securing Suwayda is essential to asserting influence over the Levant's
southern flank.</p><p><strong>Suwayda becomes the battlefield</strong></p><p>Before setting his sights on Suwayda, Sharaa's rise was marked by brutal campaigns in the coastal region, including <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/in-syria-an-unhinged-massacre-of-alawite-civilians">massacres of Alawite</a> communities that cleared space for Turkish-backed dominance. With those operations complete, <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/30404">attention turned south</a> toward the Druze stronghold.</p><p>In
the post-Assad vacuum, Sharaa chose Suwayda as the base for
consolidating power and advancing Turkiye's project \u2013 with the aim of
securing Syria's southern border crossings, creating strategic depth,
and extending influence toward Lebanon and Jordan. </p><p>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.</p><p>Ankara\u2019s ambitions have also expanded toward
Lebanon \u2013 especially the northern city of Tripoli and its surroundings \u2013
where it has built social, political, and economic influence through
networks of institutions, associations, and newly naturalized citizens.</p><p>The
port of Tripoli, which Turkiye hopes to transform into an alternative
to Beirut\u2019s port, is envisioned as a key station along the regional
transit route.</p><p>Sharaa based part of this conviction on secret understandings made in the Azerbaijani capital, <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/syria-azerbaijan-renew-ties-amid-secret-talks-with-israel">Baku</a>,
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 <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/axis-of-encirclement-azerbaijan-israel-and-turkiye-close-in-on-iran">Iranian influence</a> and Turkish commitments not to threaten Israeli security.</p><p>But
this ambition triggered an Israeli red line. Netanyahu warned of the
emergence of a \u201cnew southern Lebanon\u201d in Syria. Katz declared, \u201cthe
Druze are our brothers, and we will not leave them alone facing this
expansion,\u201d signalling readiness to intervene. Soon after, Israeli
warplanes <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-bombs-vicinity-of-syrian-presidential-palace-in-clear-warning-to-sharaa">targeted</a> Damascus and Sharaa-aligned units <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-bombs-syrian-tanks-in-suwayda-as-druze-call-for-international-protection">advancing</a> south.</p><p>Ankara, meanwhile, has publicly reasserted its own red lines. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan <a href="https://radar.am/en/news/world-2705520710/">stated</a> after a cabinet meeting on 17 July: </p><blockquote><p>\u201cWe
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.\u201d </p></blockquote><p>In reality, there is no open confrontation between Turkiye and Israel, but a tacit <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-and-turkiye-in-syria-no-clash-just-a-division-of-spoils">division of spoils</a>, with each pursuing its own corridor ambitions while managing the conflict through proxies and backchannels.</p><p><strong>The vegetable truck incident</strong></p><p>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\u2019s HTS-led factions, and
remnants of armed groups unofficially reintegrated on the ground with
indirect Turkish support.</p><p>The incident quickly escalated into an
open battle involving Israeli reconnaissance drones, local armored
units, and armed groups bearing conflicting flags \u2013 some close to
Ankara, others linked to extremist organizations recently reactivated.
Within a week, over 700 were dead.</p><p><strong>Washington watches, regulates, but won\u2019t decide</strong></p><p>The
US was not absent from the scene. Washington expressed its welcome to
Sharaa\u2019s 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.</p><p>US
envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, clearly stated that Washington supports
Syria\u2019s territorial unity but simultaneously warned against unilateral
actions that could threaten regional stability.</p><p>In truth,
Washington's role has grown \u2013 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.</p><p>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.</p><p><strong>The war of projects</strong></p><p>The battle for Suwayda is not really about <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/druze-vs-sunni-israels-sectarian-game-in-syria">sectarianism</a>
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.</p><p>Sharaa, despite his <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/julani-in-a-suit-how-france-turned-a-pariah-into-a-partner">roots</a>
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.</p><p>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\u2019s Development Road or Israel\u2019s so-called Peace Line.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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