Ras al-Bassit

Ras al-Bassit is a small town and archaeological site on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, about 53 kilometres north of Latakia, known in antiquity as Posidium or Posideium. The site has been occupied since at least the late Bronze Age, when it served as a Ugaritic trading outpost, and continued as a fortified port through the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Crusader periods. Excavations took place from 1971 to 1984 and have resumed since 2000. The modern town is known for its black sand beaches and its mostly Alawite population, with a shrine to Saint George standing to its north.