Tartus

Tartus stands on the Syrian coast opposite the island of Arwad. The Crusaders knew it as Tortosa and fortified it as a coastal stronghold, with a cathedral and walls overlooking the harbour. It became one of the last Templar possessions on the mainland. In 1291, after the fall of Acre, the Mamluks took Tartus and the remaining defenders withdrew to Arwad, where a garrison held out for another decade.

The port lost much of its earlier prominence under the Mamluks but later recovered under Ottoman rule. At the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Tartus was again valued as a point of coastal defence. Across the water, Arwad's fortress bore the traces of successive Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman builders. The town and island together watched the narrow passage between the mountains and the Mediterranean.