Arwad is a rock islet three kilometers off Tartus, Syria, where a crusader bastion gathers forces shipped from Cyprus for an invasion. It is “the closest thing left to the crusaders in the Holy Land”.
| Type | Island bastion |
| Location | Off Tartus, Syria |
| Spanish entry | Arwad |
Description
“An islet, a piece of rock in the sea”, five or six kilometers at most, with no water and no vegetation. On it stand “a kind of settlement” and “a little castle” that “barely has water, food”: both are shipped in. The coast opposite “is obviously garrisoned, because the crusaders lost”.
Role
Everything consumed arrives by galley from Cyprus; the island is a staging point, not a colony. With the coast lost, the rallying point moved onto the rock. Without Arwad there is nowhere to begin the invasion.
Forces
The expedition numbers six hundred: three hundred Cypriots, one hundred fifty Templars and one hundred fifty Hospitallers. At the time of the record three hundred men, half the force, wait on the island, sheltered by the castle.
Open questions
- How often supplies arrive, and how long the bastion would hold without galleys.
- The castle’s material, size and state; the size of the civilian settlement.
- Who garrisons the opposite coast, and in what strength.
- When the other three hundred will cross.
- No port or anchorage is recorded.