Near Homs, Syria, there is a big, old bastion. It is the 'Crac des Chevaliers' built in 11th century. It used to be the most important fortress of Crusades between 11th-13th centuries. Salah El-Din who led Muslim forces and captured the most territory of the Crusades kingdom even failed to seize the mighty bastion.

But these days, It has been damaged by Syrian War. The Associated Press news reported that armed guys broke into the 'Crac des Chevaliers' and took a lot valuable cultural properties from the citadel. A strong citadel, which had endured innumerable external aggressions for 10 centuries, is just collapsing from internal conflicts.

Besides the 'Crac des Chevaliers', many other cultural heritages in Syria are being destroyed. The old CBD of Damascus and Aleppo, and Qal'at Salah El-Din are threatened with destruction, and some mosques were already destroyed by the bombing. Umayyad mosque, which was built in 705, was mostly destroyed last April, and they often engaged in skirmishes in the Old CBD so many old structures were also mutilated. And government forces and rebels even used the old citadels as their military bases.

UNESCO listed many historical sites in Syria as a World Heritages Sites in Danger. And many archeologists and other people staged heritages-conservation movements. It appears that measures to protect World Heritages Sites in Syria are urgently needed.