Mashta al-Helu ( ar, مشتى الحلو, also known as Meshta al-Helu or Mashta al-Helo) is a town and resort in northwestern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, administratively part of the

Tartus Governorate Tartus Governorate, also transliterated as Tartous Governorate, ( ar, مُحافظة طرطوس / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ṭarṭūs'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Latakia Governorate to the ...

, located 35 kilometers east of

Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...

. The village is located in a green wooded area amid the

An-Nusayriyah Mountains The Coastal Mountain Range ( ar, سلسلة الجبال الساحلية ''Silsilat al-Jibāl as-Sāḥilīyah'') also called Al-Anṣariyyah is a mountain range in northwestern Syria running north–south, parallel to the coastal plain.Federal ...

, the Syrian coastal mountain range. Nearby localities include Kafrun to the west, al-Malloua and al-Bariqiyah to the southwest,

Habnamrah Habnamrah ( ar, حبنمرة, also spelled ''Habnemra'') is a village in northern Syria located west of Homs in the Homs Governorate. It is situated in the area known as Wadi al-Nasara ('valley of the Christians'). According to the Syria Centra ...

and

Marmarita Marmarita ( ar, مرمريتا, syc, ܡܪܡܪܝܬܐ, ) is a village in northwestern Syria, located west of Homs. Marmarita is one of the largest villages in Wadi al-Nasara ("Valley of the Christians"), a region north of Talkalakh. In 2004, Marm ...

to the south, Hadiya to the southeast,

Kafr Ram Kafr may refer to: * A Levantine Arabic term for village * Kafir, an Arabic term for an infidel * Kafr, Iran, a village See also * * Kafir (disambiguation) * Al-Kafr Al-Kafr ( ar, الكفر, also spelled ''al-Kefr'') is a village in as-Suwayda ...

to the east,

Ayn Halaqim Ain Halaqim ( ar, عين حلاقيم, also spelled Ein Halakim) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located west of Hama. Nearby localities include al-Bayda and Masyaf to the north, al-Bayyadiyah t ...

to the northeast,

Ayn al-Shams Ayn al-Shams ( ar, عين الشمس) is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located in Homs Gap southwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Ayn Halaqim, Nisaf and Baarin to the east, and Mashta al-Helu and ...

to the north and

Duraykish Duraykish ( ar, دريكيش, Duraykīš, also spelled Dreikiche) is a city in Syria, in the Tartus Governorate, at a distance of about 32 km east of Tartus. The name ''Dreikiche'' stems from Latin, and means "three caves". The town is famous ...

to the northwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Mashta al-Helu had a population of 2,458 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Mashta al-Helu ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' ("sub-district") of the

Safita District Safita District ( ar-at, منطقة صافيتا, manṭiqat Ṣāfītā) is a district of the Tartus Governorate in northwestern Syria. Administrative centre is the city of Safita Safita ( ar, صَافِيتَا '; phn, 𐤎‬𐤐𐤕‬𐤄 ...

which contained 19 localities with a collective population of 12,577 in 2004. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

s. The town has an elevation of 465 meters above sea level. Prior to the

Baathist Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection"Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation ...

takeover of the country in the 1960s, Mashta al-Helu was one of a few villages in the coastal mountain region that was electrified and connected to a grid.Balanche, 2006, p. 60.

References

{{Cities of Syria Populated places in Safita District Towns in Syria Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Syria