Baniyas

---

title: "Baniyas" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["baniyas", "cities-in-syria", "catholic-titular-sees-in-asia", "populated-places-in-baniyas-district", "populated-coastal-places-in-syria", "phoenician-cities"] description: "City in Tartous Governorate, Syria" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baniyas" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary City in Tartous Governorate, Syria ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Baniyas
settlement_type	City
native_name	بَانِيَاس
image_skyline	Baniyas-1.jpg
image_caption	General view of city
pushpin_map	Syria
pushpin_label_position	bottom
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Syria
pushpin_mapsize	250
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Syria
subdivision_type1	Governorate
subdivision_name1	Tartus
subdivision_type2	District
subdivision_name2	Baniyas
subdivision_type3	Subdistrict
subdivision_name3	Baniyas
leader_title1
established_title
established_title2
established_title3
unit_pref	Metric
population_as_of	2009 est.
population_total	43,000
population_blank1_title	Ethnicities
population_blank2_title	Religions
timezone	EET
utc_offset	+2
timezone_DST	EEST
utc_offset_DST	+3
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
elevation_m	25
postal_code_type
area_code	43
geocode	C5360
blank1_name	Climate
blank1_info	Csa
::

::callout[type=note] the port city in Syria ::

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Baniyas ( ar) is a Mediterranean coastal city in Tartus Governorate, western Syria, located 55 km south of Latakia and 35 km north of Tartus.

It is known for its citrus fruit orchards and its export of wood. North of the city is an oil 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 Phoenician 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 Aradus, and was placed by Stephanus in the late Roman province of Phoenicia, though it belonged rather to the province of Syria. In Greek 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. 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 HTS 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 19.3 °C. About 862 mm of precipitation falls annually.

|metric first = Y |single line = Y

|Jan high C = 15.0 |Feb high C = 16.1 |Mar high C = 18.7 |Apr high C = 22.3 |May high C = 25.9 |Jun high C = 29.1 |Jul high C = 30.7 |Aug high C = 31.6 |Sep high C = 30.3 |Oct high C = 27.5 |Nov high C = 22.6 |Dec high C = 16.8

|Jan low C = 7.6 |Feb low C = 8.0 |Mar low C = 9.9 |Apr low C = 12.5 |May low C = 15.6 |Jun low C = 19.3 |Jul low C = 21.9 |Aug low C = 22.2 |Sep low C = 19.9 |Oct low C = 17.3 |Nov low C = 12.6 |Dec low C = 9.2

|Jan precipitation mm = 159 |Feb precipitation mm = 147 |Mar precipitation mm = 123 |Apr precipitation mm = 50 |May precipitation mm = 26 |Jun precipitation mm = 2 |Jul precipitation mm = 1 |Aug precipitation mm = 1 |Sep precipitation mm = 12 |Oct precipitation mm = 49 |Nov precipitation mm = 94 |Dec precipitation mm = 198 |year precipitation mm= 862

|source = Climate-Data.org, Climate data |date=19 January 2018}}

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. 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 Arians 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.

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. 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.

People

• Anas Al-Sheghri (born 1988), a Syrian Civil War activist.

References

References

2. [[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'', 16.2.12 ([https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%93%CE%B5%CF%89%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC/%CE%99%CE%A3%CE%A4 Greek source] and [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/16B*.html English translation])
3. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02215a.htm Siméon Vailhé, "Balanaea" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1907)]
4. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22410392 "Syrians flee 'massacres' in Baniyas and al-Bayda,"] BBC (4 May 2013). Retrieved 6 May 2013.
5. "At least 62 bodies found in Syria's Banias: watchdog". Bangkokpost.com.
6. "Syrians flee coastal town after mass killings". Aljazeera.com.
7. Jim Muir. (2013-05-04). "Syrians flee 'massacres' in Baniyas and al-Bayda". Bbc.co.uk.
8. The Violations Documenting Center in Syria. "VDC Martyrs". Vdc-sy.info.
9. "145 civilians (34 children, 40 women, 71 men) killed in the Banias massacre". Facebook.com.
10. "Death toll for Friday 3/5/2013: More than 130 people killed yesterday in Syria". Facebook.com.
11. "Civilian Deaths in January 2025".
12. "More than 1,000 people killed in some of Syria's deadliest violence".
13. "Hundreds of civilians killed in reported reprisals".
14. [https://archive.org/stream/echosdorient10pariuoft#page/n99/mode/2up ''Echos d'Orient'' 1907], p. 94.
15. Michel Lequien, [https://books.google.com/books?id=86weAemI-e4C ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''], Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 921-924
16. Pius Bonifacius Gams, [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae''], Leipzig 1931, p. 436
17. Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 8, p. 139
18. Jean Richard, [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/syria_0039-7946_1946_num_25_1_4449 ''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)
19. Du Cange, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0uvSxcRaoKoC&pg=PA814 ''Les familles d’outre-mer''], Paris 1869, p. 814
20. ''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN. 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 845
21. [http://freesyriantranslators.net/2012/07/30/faces-from-the-syrian-revolution-anas-al-sheghri/ Free Syrian Translators: Faces from the Syrian Revolution: Anas Al-Sheghri]

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