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Assassins is the name by which the Ismailis and Nizaris were widely known in the Middle Ages. The probable origin of the word is from the Arabic hasaniyun, meaning "Hasanites", that is, followers of Hasan ibn Sabbah. Hasan ibn Sabbah, who joined the Ismailis in his youth and later visited Cairo, the capital of the Fatimid Caliphate, acquired the necessary knowledge and experience as a preacher (da'i). In the 1080s, he gradually rallied around himself a large number of admirers, students and followers. In 1090, they managed to seize the fortress of Alamut near Qazvin, in the mountainous regions of Western Persia, without a fight. In the following years, the followers of As-Sabbah captured or received a number of fortresses in the Rudbar and Qumis valleys, cities in Kuhistan, as well as several castles in the west - in the mountainous regions of Lebanon and Syria. Over time, the Ismaili state was created, the history of which was interrupted in 1256 by the Mongol conquest... Historian Natalia Basovskaya tells us.