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A winding road leads up to the ancient fortress of Marqab
which proudly overlooks Banias town.
Black stones of volcanic basalt making up its walls
give the fortress its stern and noble look.
Its arrow-slits and embrasures watch the outskirts for almost thousand years.
Even basalt can't stand the destructive effect of centuries.
The fortress is named "Marqab" - "observation post" - for a reason.
Many kilometers of the territory around can be observed from its walls.
Beautiful sight opening from its towers makes one breathless.
The fortress was restored in 2009 and became a museum.
But it was not only time which has caused its disruptive effect upon it.
The fortress hasn't lost its military value today
due to its position of strategic importance.
The fortress has been captured by militants for some time
who have been shelling the nearby populated areas off its walls.
Unfortunately the savages which have been ruling it
have plundered the museum like barbarians
having looted everything, even those of the exhibits useless to them.
They've damaged part of the restored walls
just for their reckless *** for destruction.
The terrorists who have captured the fortress were sure of its strength
and have thus arranged weapons and ammunition stashes within it.
An ancient underground passage leading from the fortress right to the sea
has let them to covertly take the bootleg weapons in.
But the militants have underestimated courage and skill of Syrian soldiers.
They have managed to storm this historical object with minimal losses
using no heavy weapons to avoid destroying it.
The fortress has been freed by now
and Syrian Army units watch over it.
New knights in camouflage
protect the civilian peace from this observation post.
The flag of Syria waving over the fortress walls
tells that barbarians will no longer let to damage
this monument of culture.
Vasily Pavlov, Andrey Filatov, Igor Nadyrshin, Victor Kuznetsov, Marat Musin. ANNA-News. Marqab fortress, Syria.