Baniyas بَانِيَاس | |
|---|---|
 General view of city | |
  Baniyas Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates:35°10′56″N35°56′25″E / 35.18222°N 35.94028°E /35.18222; 35.94028 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Tartous |
| District | Baniyas |
| Subdistrict | Baniyas |
| Control | Syrian transitional government |
| Elevation | 25 m (82 ft) |
| Population (2009 est.) | |
• Total | 43,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Area code | 43 |
| Geocode | C5360 |
| Climate | Csa |
Baniyas (Arabic:بَانِيَاسBāniyās) is aMediterranean coastal city inTartous Governorate, westernSyria, located 55 km (34 mi) south ofLatakia and 35 km (22 mi) north ofTartous.
It is known for its citrus fruit orchards and its export of wood. North of the city is anoil refinery, the largest in Syria, and apower station. The oil refinery is connected with Iraq by theKirkuk–Baniyas pipeline (now defunct).
On a nearby hill stands theCrusader castle ofMargat (Qalaat el-Marqab), a hugeKnights Hospitaller fortress built with blackbasalt stone.
InPhoenician and Hellenistic times, it was an important seaport. Some have identified it with the Hellenistic city ofLeucas (from colonists from the islandLefkada), in Greece, mentioned byStephanus of Byzantium. It was a colony ofAradus,[1] and was placed by Stephanus in the lateRoman province ofPhoenicia, though it belonged rather to the province ofSyria.[2] InGreek andLatin, it is known asBalanaea orBalanea (Βαλανέαι).
During the early 21st centurySyrian civil war, rebel sources reported that amassacre took place on 2 May 2013, perpetrated by regime forces.[3] On 3 May,[4] another massacre was, according toSOHR, perpetrated in the Ras al-Nabaa district of Baniyas causing hundreds ofSunni residents to flee their homes.[5] According to one opposition report, a total of 77 civilians, including 14 children, were killed.[6] Another two opposition groups documented, by name, 96–145 people who are thought to have been executed in the district.[7][8] Four pro-government militiamen and two soldiers were also killed in the area in clashes with rebel fighters.[9]
After theoverthrow 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.[10] From 6 March 2025, according to the UK-basedSyrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), over 1,000 people were killed in clashes between militias loyal to theHTS and militias loyal to the deposed presidentBashar 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 predominantAlawite andChristian populations in the area causing many to flee.[11][12]
Baniyas has ahot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classificationCsa). Rainfall is higher in winter than in summer. The average annual temperature in Baniyas is 19.3 °C (66.7 °F). About 862 mm (33.94 in) of precipitation falls annually.
| Climate data for Baniyas | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 15.0 (59.0) | 16.1 (61.0) | 18.7 (65.7) | 22.3 (72.1) | 25.9 (78.6) | 29.1 (84.4) | 30.7 (87.3) | 31.6 (88.9) | 30.3 (86.5) | 27.5 (81.5) | 22.6 (72.7) | 16.8 (62.2) | 23.9 (75.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 7.6 (45.7) | 8.0 (46.4) | 9.9 (49.8) | 12.5 (54.5) | 15.6 (60.1) | 19.3 (66.7) | 21.9 (71.4) | 22.2 (72.0) | 19.9 (67.8) | 17.3 (63.1) | 12.6 (54.7) | 9.2 (48.6) | 14.7 (58.4) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 159 (6.3) | 147 (5.8) | 123 (4.8) | 50 (2.0) | 26 (1.0) | 2 (0.1) | 1 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 12 (0.5) | 49 (1.9) | 94 (3.7) | 198 (7.8) | 862 (33.9) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org, Climate data | |||||||||||||
The bishopric of Balanea was asuffragan ofApamea, the capital of theRoman province ofSyria Secunda, as is attested in a 6th-centuryNotitiae Episcopatuum.[13] 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.[2]
Its first known bishop, Euphration, took part in theCouncil of Nicaea in 325 and was exiled by theArians in 335 later Timotheus was at both theRobber Council of Ephesus in 449 and theCouncil of Chalcedon in 451. In 536, Theodorus was one of the signatories of a letter to the emperorJustinian againstSeverus of Antioch and other non-Chalcedonians. Stephanus participated in theSecond Council of Constantinople in 553.[14][15]
During theCrusades, Balanea became anepiscopal see of theLatin Church, calledValenia orValania in the West. It was situated within thePrincipality of Antioch and wassuffragan to the Latinmetropolitan see of Apamea, whose archbishop intervened in the nomination of bishops of the suffragan see in 1198 and 1215.[16][17][18] For reasons of security, the bishop lived in Margat Castle.[2]
No longer a residential bishopric, Balanea is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[19]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Vailhé, Siméon (1907). "Balanaea". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
35°10′56″N35°56′25″E / 35.18222°N 35.94028°E /35.18222; 35.94028
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