المقومات الجغرافية والتاريخية للاقليم ١_a .. كتاب في ربوع سورية

Geographical and historical features of the region:

The Coast and Coastal Mountains region, with its current borders, occupies the western part of neighboring Syria from the west to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. if it was
The coast and the plains extending along its length, intermittent at times and continuous at other times, fall within the lands of the governorates of Tartous and Latakia. The borders of the two eastern provinces are almost in line with the peak line of those mountains, and the extension of the western slopes exceeds three times the extension of the eastern slopes, and this is due to the steep slope of the eastern slopes and the relatively weak slope of the western slopes.

In this study, we will confine ourselves to the lands of the provinces of Lattakia and Tartous, and thus we will talk about the coastal region and the western part of the coastal mountains - Figure (25) -. Excluded from what we will present is the plundered Alexandretta Brigade, the natural, human and historical continuation of Syria, which Turkey has seized and annexed since 1939. This region occupies an area of ​​approximately 6,700 km 2, of which about 2,700 km 2 is within the Iskenderun District and extends for a length of about 180 km at the coast line, which has many meanders in one straight line, as it is about 140 km, and this indicates that the coastal meanders of capes and bays constitute about 40 km. As for its breadth, it is about 25 km in the far south and about 45 km from the latitude of Ras Shamra (in the middle about . As for its longitudinal extension

35 km).

The surface features vary significantly between the parts of the region, so that we distinguish three terrain units, which are:

A- The coast: The length of the Syrian coast, as we mentioned earlier, is about 180 km, starting from the Alexandretta district - to the north of the village of Badrosiyeh, around Dukm -

From Latakia to the Lebanese border at the Lebanese Arida. The features that characterize the Syrian coast and make it beautiful are the succession of capes with bays in abundance, which is attributed to the advancement of solid rocky mountain masses to the west, which was not affected by marine erosion (heads) as it affected the less solid rock masses, which made them retreat with time inward (gulfs). This is what makes the coastline take different directions in its extensions, with the north-south direction prevailing over it. Among the distinctive capes on the Syrian coast, we mention, starting from the north: Ras Al-Basit advanced in the form of a nose penetrating into the sea about 2 km, and Ras Burj Al-Islam, Ras Shamra, and Ras Ibn Hani advanced into the sea about 2 and 3 km. The capes to the south are clear and large zigzags in the coastline, during which the capes appear in the form of large convexities, as in the Jableh camber, and the Rawda camber between Baniyas and Tartous. As for the bays, the most prominent of them are the Gulf of Al-Baseet - which represents the southern part of the Gulf of Suwaydiyah - between Ras Al-Baseet and the hump of Jabal Al-Aqra’, the Gulf of Umm Al-Tuyour, the mouth of the Qandil River, the Gulf of Mina Al-Bayda north of Ras Ibn Hani, the gulf of Lattakia north of Jableh and the hump of Baniyas, and the gulf of Hamidiyeh - Akkar. What distinguishes the concave parts and bays is the extension of the coastal continental shelves with a gradual depth (slight slope) for a distance of hundreds of meters, which provides an opportunity to exploit them in tourism and recreation. While in the areas of capes and convexes, the continental shelf does not extend for only a few meters with a relatively large slope that ends with semi-existing edges, which impedes its exploitation in tourism and others.

It is fortunate for our coast and for our country that the greater part of it is straight or semi-straight, away from it are the advanced mountainous masses in the form of capes. A number of small islands are scattered in front of and along the Syrian coast, the largest and most visible of them

Arwad Island, located opposite Tartous, has an area of ​​200 hectares and rises about 12 meters above sea level. It is the only inhabited Syrian island.

populated.

B- The coastal plain: The coastal plain extends from the coastline up to a height of 200 meters above it, in the form of relatively intermittent bands with rocky heads. It is almost non-existent at Al-Badrusiya and its north, at Ras Al-Baseet, at the village of Umm Al-Tuyour and Ras Ibn Hani’, while it expands in the areas of gulfs and concavities, as well as Latakia and Jableh (10-15 km) and to the south of Tartous, where it reaches its maximum extent near the Syrian-Lebanese border in the Akkar plain (about (23) km and the coastal plain is bisected by a number of river valleys coming from the western foot of the coastal mountains, as in the Qandil River, the Great Northern River, the Sin River, the Banias River, the Marqia River, the Hussain River and the Great Southern River.

C - Mountains: Four mountain masses are distinguished in this region, three to the north of the course of the northern Kabeer River, which are the Al-Bayer massif, the Al-Baseet massif, and the Al-Aqra’ mountain massif. 1728 meters. Al-Aqraa Mountain. These blocks extend from the lower Orontes Valley to the northern Kabeer River, with a length of about 65 km and a width of about 25 km. Its height increases towards the north and northeast. To the south of the Al-Kabeer Al-Shamali River, the main coastal mountain range extends - also known as the Alawiyyin Mountains and in the past as the Bahra and Tanukh Mountains, according to a north-south axis until the Al-Kabir Al-Janoubi River, with a length of about 135 km and a breadth of approximately 3025 km. While its western slopes - in the governorates of Lattakia and Tartous - are distinguished by their gentle slope, wide extensions, and abundant