Its influence receded with the administrative rise and economic development of the nearby port town of Tartus and the dimunition of its jurisdiction beginning under French Mandatory rule (1923–1946) and continuing post-Syrian independence.

Safita shares close economic ties with Tartus, as well as having business networks extending across Syria's major cities and Lebanon.

The archaeological remains at the site of Tell Kazel were identified as the Phoenician city of Sumur mentioned in the Amarna letters.

They were charged with collecting taxes on behalf of the government on fruit trees, agricultural lands, falcons, bees, silk, flour mills, buffalo, wave labor, festivals, weddings, and wintering camps of Turkmen and Arab nomads, as well as collecting the jizya (poll tax) from the Christian communities.

Its decline began under French Mandatory rule (1923–1946), when the nearby coastal town of Tartus became a sanjak capital, diluting Safita's influence.

The increased civic importance of Tartus and the construction of a major port there along with the development of irrigated commercial agriculture along the coastal plain drew more economic and civil activity away from Safita.

[15] Many residents from the surrounding villages open shops in the city, which also serves as a professional hub with a relatively large number of medical and legal practices and engineering businesses.

Balanche surmises, based on his own observations, that Safita's old town remains mostly populated by Christians, while the city in general has a slight Alawite majority.

The city has benefited from Christians' established economic networks and many local Alawites' connections to Syria's military and political power centers.

This has allowed the city a significantly higher fiscal allocation from the state and these subsidies have funded major municipal projects, including preservation efforts of the old town, construction of a ring road, and new or improved sewer networks and wastewater treatment.

Its north-south connectivity is enabled by its geography: compared with other towns in the coastal mountains, Safita's decline is not steep (not exceeding 400 meters (1,300 ft)) and the valleys to its north and south are not cut by streams.

[18] Safita has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters.