Editing Arqa (section)

===Crusades period===
At the time of the [[First Crusade]], Arca became an important strategic point of control over the roads from [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] to [[Tartus]] and [[Homs]]. [[Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse|Raymond of Toulouse]] unsuccessfully [[Siege of Arqa|besieged it]] for three months in 1099. In 1108, his nephew [[William II Jordan]] conquered it and it became part of the [[County of Tripoli]]. It resisted an attack by [[Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo]], in 1167 and another in 1171.

It finally fell to Muslim forces of the Sultan [[Baibars]] in 1265 or 1266. When Tripoli itself [[Fall of Tripoli (1289)|fell in 1289]] to the army of Sultan [[Qalawun]] and was razed to the ground, Arca lost its strategic importance and thereafter is mentioned only in ecclesiastical chronicles.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 February 2016 |title=Tal Arqa, a great city in Antiquity - LebanonUntravelled.com |url=https://lebanonuntravelled.com/tal-arqa-great-city-antiquity/ |access-date=4 August 2024 |language=en-US |archive-date=4 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804144524/https://lebanonuntravelled.com/tal-arqa-great-city-antiquity/ |url-status=live }}</ref>