HOMS, Syria:Clutching a small saw, Syrian volunteer Rana Jreij cut away at bushes growing up the centuries-old walls of one of the world's most famous Crusader castles, Krak des Chevaliers.<br /> <br /> She was among dozens to clear grass, shrubs and dead trees from the UNESCO-listed fortress this week, to protect it from forest fires that have ravaged the region.<br /> <br /> "This castle is our home. It's our memories, and I'm scared for it," said the 32-year-old, dressed in a white t-shirt with her hair tied back.<br /> <br /> Heritage official Naeema Muhartam said she was delighted to see the castle come back to life after years of grinding civil war that has kept almost all tourists away.<br /> <br /> "The castle is recovering," she said.<br /> <br /> The fortress was built by a medieval Catholic military order, the Knights of St John, who held it from 1142 to 1271, when it was captured by a Mamluk sultan.<br /> <br /> Sitting atop a high ridge in what is now the Homs province of modern-day Syria, it could once accommodate a garrison of 2,000 men.<br /> <br /> Many centuries later, after civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, the fortress again became a battleground, this time between government forces and rebels.<br /> <br /> "The castle closed its doors in 2012, then opened up again in 2014 but it wasn't ready to receive visitors," Muhartam said.<br /> <br /> Most notable was the damage to the castle's Gothic reception hall, and its chapel.<br /> <br /> - Forced into lockdown -<br /> <br /> Muhartam was ecstatic when the fortress finally welcomed sightseers back across the moat bridge into its walled interior in late 2018.<br /> <br /> "Up to 23,000 visitors came in 2019, but the corona pandemic forced it back into isolation and only 5,000 people have come this year," she said.<br /> <br /> "I'm happy to see life come back to the castle with hundreds of volunteers turning up, but my dream is to see cultural and touristic events return.<br /> <br /> "I hope one day to again see concerts within its walls like there used to be before the war."<br /> <br /> In early 2018, the Syrian government attended a tourism trade fair in Madrid, seeking to bring back foreign visitors to the war-ravaged nation.<br /> <br /> But most countries advise citizens against all travel to Syria, and tourists from abroad have been few and far between.<br /> <br /> At the entrance to the castle's large reception hall, engineer Hazem Hanna gestured to some of the decorative stonework damaged in the 2012-2014 battles.<br /> <br /> "As long as the primary materials are available, we can fix them," he said.<br /> <br /> Hungarian archaeologists have visited to help with restoration.<br /> <br /> "The Hungarian excavation team came at the end of 2016 and helped us to restore the church's steeple and part of the castle's interior," he said.<br /> <br /> - 'Scared for our castle' -<br /> <br /> The United Nations Education, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) added Krak des Chevaliers to its World Heritage List in 2006, alongside Old Damascus and the ancient city of Palmyra.<br /> <br /> Two years into the civil war, it was put on the World Heritage in Danger list.<br /> <br /> Now the guns have fallen silent, another kind of danger stalks its fortified walls.<br /> <br /> Earlier this month, President Bashar al-Assad declared a national catastrophe after inspecting farmland devastated by wildfires that have ravaged Syria's Mediterranean coastal belt.<br /> <br /> The fires destroyed more than 9,000 hectares of farmland and forest in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, as well as Homs inland, the United Nations said.<br /> <br /> Naji Derwish, a director of social responsibility at a nearby university, says more than 400 volunteers have travelled to the fortress to clear vegetation and anything else that could catch fire.<br /> <br /> "We were scared for our castle, with all the dry glass and shrubs that had accumulated during the years of conflict," he said.<br /> <br /> Nine years into the war, the Damascus government is back in control of more than 70 percent of Syria.<br /> <br /> Derwish said he hoped to again see tourists explore the fortress's dark underbelly and snap pictures from the top of its massive walls.<br /> <br /> "The castle misses its visitors," he said.