Syrian transitional President Ahmad Al-Sharaa announced on Friday that Iraq’s oil exports via Syria to the Mediterranean have officially begun, describing the country as a “potential transit hub” for regional and global energy flows.

Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Al-Sharaa said Damascus aims to reposition itself as a key logistics and trade corridor linking production centers with international markets.

According to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), shipments of fuel oil are already moving from Iraq into Syria under recently signed contracts. The volumes are reported to reach around 650,000 metric tons per month.

The crude and fuel oil are being transported by tanker trucks through overland routes into Syria, where they are then delivered to storage facilities and loaded for export at the port of Baniyas Port on the Mediterranean coast, according to Syrian Petroleum Company officials.

SOMO Director General Ali Nizar said some shipments have already reached storage tanks at Baniyas, marking the first sustained use of the route in decades and signaling a renewed energy corridor between the two neighbors.