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Salaheddin Castle
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Salaheddin Castle
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The Citadel of Salah ed-Din is located 24 km east of Lattakia,
in high mountainous terrain, on a ridge between two deep ravines
and surrounded by forest.
The castle was built in ancient times, possibly during the
Phoenician period (early first millennium BC).
The Phoenicians are said to have surrendered it for Alexander
the Great about 334 BC. In the tenth century the Byzantines
gained control of it from the Aleppan Hamdanid dynasty, after
the castle was occupied by the Crusader Principality of Antioch.
The Crusader walls were breached by the armies of Salah ed-Din
in July 1188 and it is from this victory that the castle takes
its present name.
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