"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٧‎٣] (٧٣٨/١٥٠)

THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES
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to conquer. Thus by the year 1110 all the towns on the
coast excepting Tyre and Ascalon were Latin possessions.
In every case an Italian fleet assisted during the final siege,
and when, as sometimes happened, a siege was unsuccessful
at the first attempt, the cause of failure was the want of a
fleet or weakness in the blockade of the harbour.
Castle building played a great part in the subjection and
defence of Syria in this period. Between Aleppo and the
Orontes numerous border castles changed hands frequently
and mark the advance and retreat of the opposing forces.
Previous to the First Crusade the Jebel Ansariyeh, stretching
from the neighbourhood of Antioch to El-Buqei‘ah on the
south, was already a nest of castles. They guarded the
approaches to the hills from the cities on the coast and from the
cities of the eastern plain. They protected also the roads
across the hills, e. g. Balatunus, Sahyun and Esh-Shughr on
the main road from Ladiqiyeh to Aleppo. The great castle
of Husn el-Akrad commanded the eastern entrance to the
Buqei‘ah and dominated the plain towards Homs. The slopes
of Lebanon were also defended by strong castles, especially
the roads leading into the hills from the Biqa‘. Muneiterah,
Sheqif Tirun and Sheqif Arnun were amongst the more im
portant. These castles of the north and centre were greatly
strengthened and extended by the Latins. In Palestine there
was more building on fresh sites. While Tyre and Ascalon
remained in Moslem hands it was the policy of the Latin kings
to ring them round on the land side with castles. Against
Ascalon they built Beit Nuba (1133), Beit Jibrin (1136),
Yebna (1143), Tell es-Safiyeh (1144), and finally Gaza (1150).
The border castles either existed before the Latin conquest
(e. g. Baniyas) or belong to a late date in the period of occupa
tion. But Mont Royal (ShSbek), south-east of the Dead
Sea, was an early construction (1115), and Kerak, to the east
of the Dead Sea, was afterwards associated with it (about
1140).
The Moslem resistance to the Crusaders was at first in
effective. The Egyptians were singularly unfortunate when