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The castle of Saladin is a surprising place. Built in the middle of forests, on a rock.
This stronghold has a long history : Phoenician fortified the place, Alexander the Great took possession of it. Few century later, the Crusaders arrived, they will give the actual shape of the castle. At this time, it was called "Sahône castle" (from the name of a Crusader). This actual name was given in 1957, to commemorate the storming of the place by Saladin in 1188.
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The landscape is very nice, especially on the way of the forests of Jebel Ansariye. We are here in the aera of the Alawis. The Assad family (who controls the country) is Alawi. The Alawais are a part of Shi'ite even if it's very know wich part. Accordnig François Thual (see the bibliography), all specialists of the muslim world don't agree to qualify them of muslim. Alawais were always persecuted (because considered as heretics) until French arrive in Syria. They (the Alawais) occupied the main post in the army. Thanks to the Taqiya (the opportunity to catch your religion in case of persecution) and to the initiation procedure (it's a "closed religion") we don't know a lot about them. The word Alawis is quite recent (from the French Mandate). Before, they were called Ansaris (name of a mountain) or Nusaris (from the name of Mohammed Ibn Nusayr).
For the history, this castel is the only one wich was never on the hand of one the two major orders : the Knights Templars of the Hospitaliers.
