The Port of Latakia ( ar, ميناء اللاذقية, french: link=no, Port de Lattaquié) is a seaport located on the Mediterranean sea in the city of

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

. Established on 12 February 1950, it has since served as

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 ...

's main seaport. Its imported cargo include clothing, construction materials, vehicles, furniture, minerals, tobacco, cotton, and food supplies such as lentils, onions, wheat, barley, dates, grains and figs, and in 2008 the port handled about 8 million tons of cargo. The port is also a link in six organized cruises between

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

and Beirut. In addition, there are irregular ferry services to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. In 2005, approximately 27,939 passengers used the port.

History

The port of Latakia is connected to the history of settlement in this region. Since the early

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, a port is operated at this landmark. In 1945 Syria became independent and the port of Latakia was at these times the only seaport in the country. The export of cotton was handled by this port. In 1971, 1.6 million tons of cargo were loaded in the port, after the expansion in 1981, it was over twice as much: 3.6 million tons. Today, petroleum products such as bitumen and asphalt are exported via the port, as well as grain, cotton, vegetable oil and tobacco ("Latakia tobacco"). The embargo on Syria in response to Assad's conduct in the Syrian civil war has also affected the transshipment in the port of Latakia since 2011. Since 2019, Iran leases parts of the port of Latakia for civilian and military use. This was followed closely by Russia, which operates its only naval base in the Mediterranean in nearby

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 ...

. Observers see the treaty with Iran as the attempt of a partially economically isolated country to gain access to the Mediterranean. On 28 December 2021, shortly before dawn, the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

struck the port, causing heavy damage to a number of shipping containers. The site was also targeted by Israel a few weeks earlier on 7 December. An anonymous source claimed the containers were carrying weapons from Iran. According to

SANA Sana may refer to: Places * Sanaa, the capital of Yemen * Sana (river), a river in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Sana, Bhutan, a town in Bhutan * Sana, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France * Sana, Iran, a village in Iran * Sana, Mali, a commune in M ...

, the missile attack also wrecked the facades of a hospital, some residential buildings, and shops. The blaze was brought under control and no casualties were reported by Syrian authorities.

General statistics

:''* figures in millions of tonnes''

References

Bibliography

*. *. *. {{refend

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

Buildings and structures in Latakia

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

Transport in the Arab League