A convoy of tanker trucks carries crude oil through the Al-Omar oil field in Syria on July 22.
Gerry Shih
Day and night, 5,000 hulking trucks carrying oil from the Persian Gulf rumble across this stretch of barren desert as if in a caravan snaking its way toward the Mediterranean Sea.
The trucks began shuttling between the refineries of southern Iraq and the Syrian port of Baniyas in April, initially as an experiment by Iraqi oil exporters seeking to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz after cargo traffic in the waterway was stopped by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Today, the daily bumper-to-bumper procession of tanker trucks is a showcase of how Syria and its new government aim to benefit as global energy flows are reshaped.
