A chain of stone castles running from Cyprus through the Middle East and southern Turkey, built on steep hillside slopes or even mountains, making assault and (under-)mining very hard for the superior numbers of the Muslim armies. The Christian knights were able to hold out for years, until gradually their number shrunk and they were unable to devote sufficient manpower to garrison them effectively.
Several of these 12th and13th century fortifications are still standing in full order today. One of the castles the Crac des Chevaliers which had been deemed impregnable and resisted even the mighty Saladin himself, only fell in a 1291 siege after what seems to be a bit of a running theme in this series about sieges, a bit of deception; a letter was forged purporting to come from a Christian authority in Libya urging the surrender of the castle’s inhabitants.
In the current Syrian conflict, when Assad's government forces attacked the local village to Crac des Chevaliers, once again some 900 years later the villagers sought refuge in the castle, but they were attacked there as well and finally the castle has suffered some material damage.
In the current Syrian conflict, when Assad's government forces attacked the local village to Crac des Chevaliers, once again some 900 years later the villagers sought refuge in the castle, but they were attacked there as well and finally the castle has suffered some material damage.
Another castle Kerak held out against various assaults from Saladin for five years. In this age of chivalry, Saladin received word that a royal wedding was taking place inside the castle and ordered his catapults not to aim for the wedding pavilion and thereafter to avoid the new marriage quarters. In return he was sent some of the wedding feast.
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"Three Dreams In The Key Of G" has three female voices in a state of siege. One a young mother in sectarian Northern Ireland, just after the Good Friday Peace Agreement has returned paramilitary fighters from both sides back into the domestic realm for an uneasy peace there. The second a Waco-like siege in Florida, as the FBI, DEA and ATF surround a compound full of women, which they see as a threat to all of mankind. The third is in laboratories all over the globe, the Human Genome is being besieged by scientists as they try and uncover its code for life.
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| The siege will be lifted 26/07/2018 |
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