The Fall of Christendom's Mightiest Fortress - Today in History — Jihadist Treachery at the Mighty Templar Fortress of Safed

Raymond Ibrahim : Today in history, on July 23, 1266, one of the greatest fortresses of Christendom—and one of Islam’s most hated—fell after six weeks of heroic resistance. The mighty Templar castle of Safed dominated Upper Galilee from its lofty summit.

To Christians, it was a bastion of security, protecting pilgrims, villages, and the roads leading inland from Acre. To Muslims it was, as a contemporary Arab writer described it, “an obstruction in the throat of Syria and a blockage in the chest of Islam.”

On this day, that obstruction was finally removed.

Its conqueror was the Mamluk sultan Baybars, the greatest practitioner of jihad since Saladin. Through relentless warfare, calculated deception, and uncompromising brutality, he would systematically dismantle the Crusader states, paving the way for their final destruction a generation later.

Safed was not his first victim.

The previous year, Baybars laid siege to the great Hospitaller fortress of Arsuf—even though he was bound to its defenders by treaty. For over a month the Knights of St. John held out against constant bombardment, mining operations, and repeated assaults. At last, with their walls shattered and nearly half their defenders dead, they agreed to surrender only after Baybars personally guaranteed safe passage to Acre.

The promise proved worthless.

The moment the gates opened, every Christian—knights, soldiers, women, and children alike—was seized and enslaved. Many were enslaved and forced to demolish the very fortress they had so valiantly defended before being marched off in chains. Weeks later, Baybars celebrated his triumph in Cairo by parading the captive Hospitallers through the streets with broken crosses hanging around their necks as jeering crowds mocked and assaulted them.

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