Iran also targeted US military bases in several Gulf countries, heightening security concerns across an oil-rich region whose economies rely heavily on energy exports, food imports and tourism.
“The Hejaz railway matters first because it will increase economic integration, providing itself as an alternative to Hormuz in the future,” says Dania Koleilat Khatib, an expert in US-Arab relations and co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese group.
If the Hejaz railway project comes to fruition, with lines potentially extending to Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba and running through Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to Oman’s Arabian Sea coast near the Strait of Hormuz, it could “diminish” Iran’s leverage over the strategic waterway, according to Khatib.
“It will also solidify political integration efforts we observe in the recently developing quadrilateral security cooperation framework between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye,” Khatib tells TRT World.
Projects such as the Hejaz railway might help Middle Eastern security arrangements, including the recent quadrilateral format, take “various shapes”, she adds.
The Israeli threat has accelerated rapprochement among regional states, Orhan says, arguing that the Netanyahu government’s aggressive policies have brought Türkiye and Saudi Arabia closer together.
Riyadh, which has not recognised Israel, increasingly sees Ankara as an important regional partner.
Saudi Arabia understands that it needs “to balance Israel’s growing threat” not only through defence ties with countries such as Türkiye, but also through economic projects such as the Hejaz railway, according to Orhan.
Is Israel nervous about the Hejaz railway?
There are emerging signs that the Hejaz railway, which aims to boost cooperation and connectivity among Middle Eastern countries, is viewed with concern by Israel, according to some analysts, who argue that greater regional integration runs counter to Israel’s strategic interests.
Since October 7, Israel has been involved in conflicts across Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and, most recently, Iran, fuelling concerns among some regional observers that the conflict could widen and affect other Middle Eastern states, including Türkiye and the Gulf countries.
“Any projects like the Hejaz railway that bring countries and people in the region together through political or economic projects make Israel very nervous and worried. It will do its utmost to sabotage such efforts,” Sami al Arian, the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, tells TRT World.
Arian’s warning of possible Israeli sabotage evokes memories of the attacks led by Lawrence of Arabia on Ottoman trains along the Hejaz railway during World War I, which disrupted the historic route and contributed to its eventual demise amid the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
“Israel is the biggest disruptor of any regional projects including the Hejaz railway against which it imposes its own conditions. Certainly, it’s a great project to connect people in the region, but geopolitically speaking we need to put front and center on how to confront the Zionist challenge to realise such projects,” Arian tells TRT World.
Ankara has long opposed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and Lebanon, while advocating greater regional cooperation to counter what it views as the Netanyahu government’s destabilising policies.
During a recent meeting between Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat and his Syrian counterpart, Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar, to discuss reviving the historic railway project, Bolat said that “the reduction of Israel’s influence in the region, together with increased political and economic solidarity among us, will bring economic prosperity”.
Experts also argue that the Hejaz railway, together with Türkiye’s Development Road project with Iraq, could reduce the strategic importance of the Western-backed India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC), which aims to connect India to Europe via the Gulf, Israel and the Mediterranean.
“This will kill the IMEC road and further isolate Israel for the benefit of Türkiye-Gulf integration,” says Khatib.
While Israel was banking on integration with the Gulf, now a new rapprochement between Ankara and regional states like Syria and Saudi Arabia is changing regional equations, she adds.
A Facebook page with nearly one million followers run by fans of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman saw the Hejaz railway project as a “fatal blow to one of Israel’s most strategically significant economic projects,” referring to the IMEC, adding that “the Israel-India-UAE axis has been destroyed”.
