Ugarit's name comes from a Phoenician word meaning shelter. Neolithic remains were found at the base of the tell (hill), dating from the seventh millennium!
Tartous is a Phoenician city built as an extension of the main settlement in the island of Arwad (Aradus). Its name is derived fron Antaradus or Anti-Aradus.
Safita is the Crusaders' Chastel Blanc where only the donjon remains from the castle. A purely Frankish style, donjon was converted to a church dedicated to St Michel.
One of the most important sites of Jebel Zawiyé. We can find a basilica church dating from the 5th C, a tomb in a temple's shape of Roman origin and a church from the 6th C,
(located 60 km NE of Hama) Completed in the last full year of Justinian's reign (564), Qasr Ibn Wardan was in architectural terms perhaps the most remarkable of these defensive creations,
Founded in the first century BC, Qanawat was the subject of struggle between Anthony and Herod the Great, the first wishing to restore the area to Cleopatra kingdom.
The castle was originally established by a local lord who in 1132-3 sold the fortress of Qadmus to the Ismaelis from where they began to establish themselves in the area
The city was known at the Greco-roman period as Arra. Its modern Arabic name refers to a companion of the Prophet Mohammed (Al Numan Ibn Bashir Al Ansari)
Major Sites 
