Aleppo
Qal'at Najm is a castle on a hill above the Euphrates near Manbij, north-east of Aleppo. A fortress has guarded this river crossing since early Islamic times,…
Qal'at Najm is a castle on a hill above the Euphrates near Manbij, north-east of Aleppo. A fortress has guarded this river crossing since early Islamic times, and the castle seen today was largely rebuilt in the early thirteenth century by al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo and son of Salah al-Din. Its walls and gate are well preserved, and it looks out over the river and the farmland around it. It is one of the finest Ayyubid castles in northern Syria.