MASYAF, Syria — They worked in twos or threes, stalking victims with the utmost secrecy, then brazenly striking them down at crowded mosques or markets.
They knew such public slayings made escape impossible and their own executions certain. But with murder their profession, death was an occupational hazard.
The Assassins belonged to a mysterious medieval sect that terrorized Syria at the time of the Crusades. Now, more than 700 years after they were vanquished, Masyaf castle in western Syria's highlands is perhaps the most famous reminder of that dark chapter in Syria's history.
But years of neglect have taken a toll on the forbidding, six-level stone castle perched on a rocky peak in the shadow of the Ansary Mountains. The Assassins were also known as the Hashashin for their alleged use of hashish to muster enough courage to slay opponents. They acquired the castle that became their main stronghold from a local chieftain in about 1140.
Today, Masyaf castle is among the best preserved fortresses in Syria, though several of its walls have collapsed and others look perilously close to tumbling down. Local authorities short of cash and expertise have for decades carried out routine restoration work on the site, but the work has been inadequate.
The government last year accepted an offer from the Agha Khan Trust for Culture to restore the castle with all expenses paid by the Geneva-based charity chaired by Aga Khan IV, spiritual leader of the world's 15 million followers of Islam's Ismaili sect.
The Assassins order, whose origins were in Iran, recruited its men from followers of the Ismaili faith. Ismailis today make up 30 percent of Masyaf's 35,000 people.
The rise of the Assassins in 12th-century Syria — then a swath of land covering present-day Syria, Lebanon and Israel — coincided with one of the worst eras of political fragmentation in Syria. Muslim rulers fought one another as the Crusaders made inroads in the Arab hinterlands.
To escape the persecution of Orthodox Sunni Muslims, Ismailis seized well-defended castles in the highlands and entered tactical alliances, with Muslims as well as Crusaders, to ensure their sect's survival. Members also murdered several of their Sunni opponents.
But with Sunni power consolidated in Syria and the sect's base in Iran overrun by the Mongols in 1260, the Assassins finally ceased being a political entity in the 1270s, when the Mamluks of Egypt suppressed an Ismaili revolt there. Stefano Bianca, director of the Aga Khan Trust's Historic Cities Support Program, said urgent work to save parts of the castle in immediate danger is done, but the project's goal is to make the castle "the centerpiece for a new route for the visitors of Syria."
Mohammed al-Russais, the trust's Masyaf representative, said the project includes archaeological digs in the castle and installing lighting. Local authorities, he said, also would receive assistance from the trust to restore and develop ancient sites in the town of Masyaf.
Plans include removing houses built too close to the castle, turning Ottoman-era guest houses into a market for traditional crafts and restoring a 12th-century mosque believed to have been built on the site of a church.
Wildflowers flourish at Masyaf castle near heaps of rubble, scaffolding and metal barrels. Though the site is open to tourists, few make their way out to see the maze of long, narrow corridors, rooms connected by steep flights of stairs, courtyards, stables and defensive towers. Water reservoirs are carved out of rocks on the bottom level.
A good view of the town of Masyaf is offered from the castle's western side, together with hilly and mountainous terrain that extends to the coastal plains 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the west.
During Roman times, Masyaf castle was part of a network of military fortifications extending from Syria's east Mediterranean coast to the interior. Some archaeologists, however, believe the site had been used for defensive purposes long before, perhaps as early as the 10th century B.C.
Masyaf's military role continued until the Ottoman era early in the 16th century, when families began living in parts of the castle, according to Mamdouh Mahmoud, government archaeologist in charge of the Masyaf area.
Mahmoud said the castle began to deteriorate when the French took over in Syria in 1920. French authorities evicted the residents and used the castle as a warehouse. Some of the residents who left, Mahmoud said, quarried castle walls for stones to build new homes.
Syria, which long has promoted a secular culture among its 17 million people — a mosaic of Muslim and Christian sects — required the trust to fund two other restoration projects. Syria, Mahmoud noted, won't accept foreign aid targeting a single religious group.
So, tourists eventually also will be able to visit restored medieval castles in the northern city of Aleppo and a castle near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia that was once used by Saladin, a legendary Muslim ruler who fought the Crusaders in the 12th century. Work on those projects is expected to be completed by 2005.