Areimeh () is a village in northwestern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, administratively part of the Tartus District of the

Tartus Governorate Tartus Governorate, also transliterated as Tartous Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ṭarṭūs''), is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Latakia Governorate to the north, Homs and Hama Governo ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Areimeh had a population of 507 in the 2004 census. It is the site of the medieval fortress of Arima.

Fortress

Description

Arima is southeast of

Tartus Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French language, French Tartous) is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. It is the second largest port city in Syria (af ...

. It is situated on an oval hilltop, above sea level, in the northern Akkar Plain, below the Jabal Ansariyah mountains. The hill slopes steeply on its north and south to the tributaries of the Nahr al-Abrash river. The fortress is currently in a ruined state. From its peak it oversees the fortresses of Chastel Blanc and

Gibelacar Gibelacar (), also known by its original Arabic name Hisn Ibn Akkar () or its modern Arabic name Qal'at Akkar (), is a fortress in the village of Akkar al-Atiqa in the Akkar Governorate in northern Lebanon. The fortress dates back to the Fatimid e ...

(Hisn Akkar). It covers a length of . It consists of two courtyards and redoubt, all three components separated from each other ditches. The redoubt is an enclosure with two towers on its sides, the larger tower positioned over the entrance to the fortress.

History

The Arima fortress buttressed the defense of

, one of the two main towns of the Crusader

County of Tripoli The County of Tripoli (1102–1289) was one of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria. When the Crusades, Frankish Crusaders, mostly O ...

, and the

Homs Gap The Homs Gap () (also called the Akkar Gap and known in Arabic as al-Buqay'a) is a relatively flat passage in the Orontes River Valley of southern Syria. Nicknamed the "gateway to Syria," the gap separates the An-Nusayriyah Mountains and Jabal Z ...

. The date of Arima's construction is not known and the earliest date it is mentioned in the historical record is 1148, when it was in the possession of Raymond II, the

Count of Tripoli The count of Tripoli was the ruler of the County of Tripoli, a crusader state from 1102 through to 1289. Of the four major crusader states in the Levant, Tripoli was created last. The history of the counts of Tripoli began with Raymond IV, Coun ...

. Raymond II had lost control of the fortress that year to a potential rival, Bertand of Toulouse, the son of

Alfonso Jordan Alfonso Jordan, also spelled Alfons Jordan or Alphonse Jourdain (1103–1148), was the Count of Tripoli (1105–09), Count of Rouergue (1109–48) and Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence and Duke of Narbonne (1112–48). Life Alfonso was t ...

who had been poisoned and killed in

Caesarea Caesarea, a city name derived from the Roman title " Caesar", was the name of numerous cities and locations in the Roman Empire: Places In the Levant * Caesarea Maritima, also known as "Caesarea Palaestinae", an ancient Roman city near the modern ...

earlier that year. Bertrand probably seized Arima as it sat between Tartus and Tripoli, the seat of the County. Raymond called on the Muslim ruler

Nur al-Din Zengi Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd Zengī (; February 1118 – 15 May 1174), commonly known as Nur ad-Din (lit. 'Light of the Faith' in Arabic), was a Turkoman member of the Zengid dynasty, who ruled the Syrian province () of the Seljuk Empire. He reigne ...

to intervene on his behalf. Nur al-Din responded by besieging Arima. The Muslim forces broke a hole through its walls and compelled Bertand to surrender. Nur al-Din later raided and destroyed Arima and

Chastel Blanc Chastel Blanc (, Burj Safita or Safita Tower) is a medieval structure in Safita, western Syria. It was built by the Knights Templar during the Crusades upon prior fortifications. Located on the middle hill of Safita's three hills, it offers a com ...

Safita Safita ( '; , ''Sōpūte'') is a city in the Tartus Governorate, western Syria, located to the southeast of Tartus and to the northwest of Krak des Chevaliers. It is situated on the tops of three hills and the valleys between them, in the Syrian ...

in 1171. The fortress was rebuilt soon after and entered the possession of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

. The Muslim ruler of Syria and Egypt,

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

, captured it in 1187 but it eventually reverted to Crusader control until falling to the Muslim

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

in 1291.

References

{{Tartus Governorate, tartus Populated places in Tartus District Castles in Syria