SYRIA

SYRIA / سُورِيَة

Port of Latakia.
Airmail. Second stamp in a set of 4, issued on 25.12.1950.
Face value: 10 Syrian piastre.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 597.
- Scott No. C159.
- StampWorld No. 506.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 498.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA35.

Latakia (Arabic: ٱللَّاذْقِيَّة) is the main port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria. Although the site of the city has been inhabited since the 2nd millennium BC, the city was founded in the 4th century BC under the rule of the Seleucid Empire. In 1920, following World War I, Latakia, which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire, was assigned to the French mandate of Syria, in which it served as the capital of the autonomous territory of the Alawites. This autonomous territory became the Alawite State in 1922, proclaiming its independence a number of times until reintegrating into Syria in 1944. In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the naval Battle of Latakia between Israel and Syria was fought just offshore from the city. Latakia is located 348 km(216 mi) north-west of Damascus. According to the 2009 census, the city's population was 650,558. The modern Port of Latakia (Arabic: ميناء اللاذقية; French: Port de Lattaquié) was established on February 12, 1950, and it has since served as Syria's main seaport.