Syria - The Unesco World Heritage Site was partially destroyed by a Syrian Air Farce MiG air strike after Bashar Al Assad ordered its obliteration in partial payback for the Crusades.
Erected in 1031 the citadel straddles a massive meteorite outcrop on which the Knights Hospitalier built their desert castle after discovering the site once housed an ancient alien civilization's fortress.
This weekend its southern elevation was lying in ruins following the aerial clusterbomb attack as vociferous condemnation of the brutal destruction reverberated throughout the Middle East.
In the Arabian Gulf scholars of ancient history condemned Assad's determination to pulverize all traces of this, the most hated of Syrian landmark monuments in the Futile - er...Fertile! - Crescent to attack his wrath.
Alongside the adjoining fortress of Qalat Salah el-Din the castellated fort is considered one of the most precious crown jewels of the entire Middle East and a source of immense archaeological pride.
"It's a bit like bombing Windsor Castle," a Pan Arabian Antiquities Forum librarian said, "just shows you the kind of ruthless nutter Bashar Assad really is."
