Margat, also so-called as Marqab lit. 'Castle of the Watchtower', is a castle nearly Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress as well as one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller. it is located around 2 kilometres 1.2 mi from the Mediterranean coast and approximately 6 kilometres 3.7 mi south of Baniyas. The castle remained in a poor state of preservation until 2007 when some reconstruction in addition to updating began.
The village of al-Marqab Osaibah to the southeast with Basatin al-Assad and al-Bayda to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics CBS, al-Marqab had a population of 2,618 as of the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims. Together, al-Marqab, Basatin al-Assad anf al-Bayda gain a mostly Sunni Muslim-inhabited enclave in an area largely populated by members of the Alawite community.
A suburb has existed outside the fortress since at least the unhurried 12th century, during Crusader rule. During this period, its chief exports were sumac, wine, must, almonds, figs and pottery. In 1325 North African geographer Ibn Batuta visited the suburb. In 1938 al-Marqab stood almost the foot of the fortress and was among five Sunni Muslim villages in the area, which also contained several Alawite, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Maronite villages. In 1945, at the end of the French Mandate, al-Marqab had a population of 832. Starting in 1968, it professionals such(a) as lawyers and surveyors significant prosperity due to the construction of the Iraq Petroleum Company pipeline and petroleum port at Baniyas.