Aleika Castle or Aliqa Castle ( ar, قلعة العليقة) is located in

Aliqa Aliqa or Al-Ullayqah ( ar, العليقة ) is a Syrian village located in Baniyas District, Tartus. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Aliqa had a population of 720 in the 2004 census. The village has Aleika Castle which ...

near

Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...

at distance 85 km, it consists of two floor structures, a type of

concentric castle A concentric castle is a castle with two or more concentric curtain walls, such that the outer wall is lower than the inner and can be defended from it. The layout was square (at Belvoir and Beaumaris) where the terrain permitted, or an irregu ...

. Historically (12th century) it was under Syrian

Nizari Isma'ili The Nizaris ( ar, النزاريون, al-Nizāriyyūn, fa, نزاریان, Nezāriyān) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent ...

control, and had part during the crusades. Cemetery stones are found in the castle with

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscriptions, which confirms that fights took place here during the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

. The Mamluk Sultan

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...

is mentioned in the archives of the Syrian Tourism ministry.Syrian Tourism Ministry Website
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References

Castles in Syria {{Castle-stub

See also

References