Baniyas ( ) is a Mediterranean coastal city in Tartous Governorate, western Syria, located south of Latakia and north of Tartous.
It is known for its citrus fruit orchards and its export of wood. North of the city is an Baniyas Refinery, the largest in Syria, and a power station. The oil refinery is connected with Iraq by the Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline (now defunct).
On a nearby hill stands the Crusader castle of Margat (Qalaat el-Marqab), a huge Knights Hospitaller fortress built with black basalt stone.
History
Ancient
In
and Hellenistic times, it was an important seaport. Some have identified it with the Hellenistic city of
Leucas (from colonists from the island
Lefkada), in Greece, mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium. It was a colony of
Arwad,
[Strabo, Geographica, 16.2.12 ( Greek source and English translation)] and was placed by Stephanus in the late
Roman province of Phoenicia, though it belonged rather to the province of Syria.
[ Siméon Vailhé, "Balanaea" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1907)] In
Greek language and
Latin, it is known as
Balanaea or
Balanea (Βαλανέαι).
Modern
During the early 21st century Syrian civil war, rebel sources reported that a massacre took place on 2 May 2013, perpetrated by regime forces.
[ "Syrians flee 'massacres' in Baniyas and al-Bayda," BBC (4 May 2013). Retrieved 6 May 2013.] On 3 May,
another massacre was, according to SOHR, perpetrated in the Ras al-Nabaa district of Baniyas causing hundreds of
Sunni residents to flee their homes.
According to one opposition report, a total of 77 civilians, including 14 children, were killed.
Another two opposition groups documented, by name, 96–145 people who are thought to have been executed in the district.
Four pro-government militiamen and two soldiers were also killed in the area in clashes with rebel fighters.
2025 Massacres
After the overthrow of the Assad regime in late 2024, several massacres were occurring throughout the country with the most notable recent incident on the coast affecting several areas, including Baniyas city.
From 6 March 2025, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), over 1,000 people were killed in clashes between militias loyal to the
Tahrir al-Sham and militias loyal to the deposed president
Bashar al-Assad, including more than 745 confirmed civilian deaths caused by the current government forces and the Syrian security forces. The massacres occurring negatively affected the predominant
Alawite and
Christian populations in the area causing many to flee.
Climate
Baniyas has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification
Csa). Rainfall is higher in winter than in summer. The average annual temperature in Baniyas is . About of precipitation falls annually.
Bishopric
The bishopric of Balanea was a
suffragan of Apamea, the capital of the
Roman province of
Syria Secunda, as is attested in a 6th-century
Notitiae Episcopatuum.
[ Echos d'Orient 1907, p. 94.] When Justinian established a new civil province, Theodorias, with Laodicea as metropolis, Balanea was incorporated into it, but continued to depend ecclesiastically on Apamea, till it obtained the status of an exempt bishopric directly subject to the Patriarch of Antioch.
[
]
Its first known bishop, Euphration, took part in the Council of Nicaea in 325 and was exiled by the Arianism in 335 later Timotheus was at both the Robber Council of Ephesus in 449 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In 536, Theodorus was one of the signatories of a letter to the emperor Justinian against Severus of Antioch and other non-Chalcedonians. Stephanus participated in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.[Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 921-924][Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 436]
During the Crusades, Balanea became an episcopal see of the Latin Church, called Valenia or Valania in the West. It was situated within the Principality of Antioch and was suffragan to the Latin metropolitan see of Apamea, whose archbishop intervened in the nomination of bishops of the suffragan see in 1198 and 1215.[Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 8, p. 139][Jean Richard, Note sur l'archidiocèse d'Apamée et les conquêtes de Raymond de Saint-Gilles en Syrie du Nord, in Syria. Archéologie, Art et histoire, Year 1946, Volume 25, n° 1, pp. 103–108 (especially p. 107)][Du Cange, Les familles d’outre-mer, Paris 1869, p. 814] For reasons of security, the bishop lived in Margat Castle.[
]
No longer a residential bishopric, Balanea is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 845]
People
See also
