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Description
The following is a section on the book "The crusades through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf - I edited it so that you could be able to understand the origins of this great castle.

During the first week of January 1099 (the same year Jerusalem was taken), upon learning that the Frankish (Crusader) troops where near, the local peasants gathered their cattle & reserves of oil and grain and climbed towards Hisn al Akrad, 'The fortress of the Kurds' (which used to house Kurdish mercenaries for the Ruler of Hims). Although the fortress had fallen into disuse, its walls where intact and the peasants hoped to find shelter there. but the Franj (Arabic name for the crusaders) ever short of recourses decided to lay siege, and once prepared, began to climb the walls.

Fearing that all was lost the peasants devised a stratagem; they threw open the great doors to the fort, allowing part of their herd to escape. The Franj, forgetting the battle (possibly out of hunger), hurled themselves after the animals! so great was the chaos in their ranks that the emboldened defenders made a sortie and attacked the tent of the Frankish commander (Saint-Gilles) who barely escaped capture because his bodyguards had abandoned him to get their share of the cattle!

The peasants knew that their achievement would be short lived and that the attackers would want revenge! so the next day when Saint-Gilles ordered another attack, the defenders did not show themselves in fact no movement could be seen on the ramparts - the attackers wondered if this was a new trick, in fact it was the best trick of all: the peasants had taken advantage of the night before and snuck away...

Description
The following is a section on the book "The crusades through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf - I edited it so that you could be able to understand the origins of this great castle.

During the first week of January 1099 (the same year Jerusalem was taken), upon learning that the Frankish (Crusader) troops where near, the local peasants gathered their cattle & reserves of oil and grain and climbed towards Hisn al Akrad, 'The fortress of the Kurds' (which used to house Kurdish mercenaries for the Ruler of Hims). Although the fortress had fallen into disuse, its walls where intact and the peasants hoped to find shelter there. but the Franj (Arabic name for the crusaders) ever short of recourses decided to lay siege, and once prepared, began to climb the walls.

Fearing that all was lost the peasants devised a stratagem; they threw open the great doors to the fort, allowing part of their herd to escape. The Franj, forgetting the battle (possibly out of hunger), hurled themselves after the animals! so great was the chaos in their ranks that the emboldened defenders made a sortie and attacked the tent of the Frankish commander (Saint-Gilles) who barely escaped capture because his bodyguards had abandoned him to get their share of the cattle!

The peasants knew that their achievement would be short lived and that the attackers would want revenge! so the next day when Saint-Gilles ordered another attack, the defenders did not show themselves in fact no movement could be seen on the ramparts - the attackers wondered if this was a new trick, in fact it was the best trick of all: the peasants had taken advantage of the night before and snuck away...