BERYTAR

Overview

BERYTAR is a short regional submarine cable spanning 134 km between Lebanon and Syria. It connects the Lebanese coast at three separate landing points with a Syrian terminal, forming a direct bilateral link across the eastern Mediterranean littoral. As a purely bilateral system, it serves the corridor between these two neighboring countries.

Route and Landings

In Lebanon, the cable comes ashore at three locations: Beirut, Saida, and Tripoli. These landings are distributed along the Lebanese coastline, providing connectivity at the capital and at two additional coastal cities to the south and north respectively.

In Syria, the cable lands at Tartous, on the country's Mediterranean coast.

Ownership and Operators

BERYTAR is jointly owned by the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications and the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment, reflecting the state-owned nature of telecommunications infrastructure in both countries at the time of the cable's establishment.

Status and Timeline

BERYTAR entered service in 1997 and has now been operational for 29 years. No end-of-service date is recorded.

Technical Profile

At 134 km, BERYTAR is a short-haul system. No capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, or technology details are available for this cable.

Regional Context

BERYTAR sits within an eastern Mediterranean corridor served by several other submarine cables. Among cables touching Lebanon and Syria, BERYTAR is notably compact relative to longer systems such as IMEWE, which stretches over 12,000 km, and the Medusa Submarine Cable System at 8,760 km. Cables of comparable scope in this corridor include CADMOS, CADMOS-2, UGARIT, and Aletar, the last of which shares BERYTAR's 1997 ready-for-service date. BERYTAR's 134 km length places it at the shorter end of the regional cable population.

Performance measurements over the last 60 days, drawn from 74 ping tests, show an average round-trip latency of 127.5 ms, with a best recorded result of 112.4 ms.

Strategic Role

BERYTAR provides a direct submarine connection between Lebanon and Syria, with Lebanon served at three distinct coastal cities — Beirut, Saida, and Tripoli — and Syria served at Tartous. The distribution of Lebanese landing points across the country's coastline means the cable reaches communities beyond the capital, while the single Syrian landing consolidates traffic at Tartous. Owned by the national telecommunications bodies of both countries, the cable represents state-to-state infrastructure linking two neighboring eastern Mediterranean nations.