Al-Qadmus

Al-Qadmus (, also spelled al-Qadmous or Cadmus) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located northeast of Tartus and southeast of Baniyas. Nearby localities include Kaff al-Jaa and Masyaf to the east, Wadi al-'Uyun and al-Shaykh Badr to the south, Hammam Wasel, al-Qamsiyah and Maten al-Sahel to the southwest, Taanita to the west, al-Annazeh to the northwest and Deir Mama to the northeast. It is situated just east of the Mediterranean coast and its ruined castle stands on a plateau roughly above sea level and just above the town.

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Qadmus had a population of 5,551 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Qadmus nahiyah ("sub-district") which contained 25 localities with a collective population of 22,370 in 2004. The inhabitants of the town of al-Qadmus are mostly Ismailis and Alawites, with each community constituting about 50% of the population. By contrast, the villages in the surrounding countryside are predominantly (though not exclusively) inhabited by Alawites alone.