....
Baalbek was a miserable place.
Two years ago, Turkic Warlords from the north had plundered and burned it. When Aziz was killed by Tutush, the town's reconstruction was not even halfway complete.
The remaining part of the town was situated on the south bank of the Orontes River, flanked by the Lebanon Mountains to the east and west. This location was the very reason for its existence, as it was built at the river's first crossing, which offered some protection against attacks from the south.
However, it was defenseless against fleets sailing up the Orontes River and the Turkic Cavalry from the north. Those Turkic People stole whatever they could, raped any woman they wanted, killed those they didn't need, and carried the rest off as slaves.
These Turkic People came from Anatolia, Aleppo, Mosul, and even settlements farther to the East. Sometimes, they were enemies of their own Turkic kin, and they mercilessly slaughtered the Turkic People living in Baalbek.
