The siege of Emesa in 638 was laid by a coalition force of Arab Christian tribes from
Jazira
Jazira or Al-Jazira ( 'island'), or variants, may refer to:
Business
*Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait
Locations
* Al-Jazira, a traditional region known today as Upper Mesopotamia or the smaller region of Cizre
* Al-Jazira ( ...
which mustered by
Heraclius in an attempt to stimy the losses of
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
territories due to rapid expansion of the
Rashidun Caliphate in the Levant.
Background
After the devastating defeat in the
Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, ...
, the remainder of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
was left vulnerable. With few military resources left, it was no longer in a position to attempt a military comeback in
Syria. To gain time to prepare a defense of the rest of his empire, Heraclius needed the Muslims occupied in Syria.
Heraclius thus sought help from the Christian Arab tribes which came of Jazirah which particularly came from two cities along the
Euphrates river,
Circesium and
Hīt
Hīt, also spelled ''Heet'' ( ar, هيت), ancient name ''Is'', is an Iraqi city in Al-Anbar province. Hīt lies northwest of Ramadi, the provincial capital.
Straddling the Euphrates River, the city of Hīt was originally a small walled town sur ...
.
The tribes mustered a large army and marched against
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
in no time, which was erected as military headquarter by Abu Ubaydah at the time.
Caliphate strategy
Acknowledging a huge Arab Christian army marching to his position, Abu Ubaidah withdrew all his forces from northern Syria to Emesa as a part of a complex strategy which he devised to repel the massive invasion of the Christian Arabs against Emesa, while Caliph
Umar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...
instructed Abu Ubaydah to sent his field commanders outside of Emesa with sufficient splinter forces to lay counter siege to cities in
Jazira
Jazira or Al-Jazira ( 'island'), or variants, may refer to:
Business
*Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait
Locations
* Al-Jazira, a traditional region known today as Upper Mesopotamia or the smaller region of Cizre
* Al-Jazira ( ...
, the homeland of enemy Arab Christian tribes, in order to divert the focus of enemy concentration in Emesa.
So the splinter forces under
Iyadh ibn Ghanm In 638 the Muslims attacked Hīt, which they found to be well fortified; thus, they left a fraction of the army to impose a siege on the city, while the rest went after Circesium.
Iyadh in turn sent
Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri
Ḥabīb ibn Maslama al-Fihrī ( ar, حبيب بن مسلمة الفهري; –) was an Arab general during the Early Muslim conquests, under Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.
Life Origin and career under Umar
Born in Mecca , Habib was a member of the M ...
toward Circesium taking with him a particular division of
Banu Kilab
The Banu Kilab ( ar, بنو كِلاب, Banū Kilāb) was an Arab tribe in the western Najd (central Arabia) where they controlled the horse-breeding pastures of Dariyya from the mid-6th century until at least the mid-9th century. The tribe was div ...
known as ''Corps of 'Amr'',
which are famed for their 'militant and warlike attitude.
The division is directly under the leadership of
Aslam ibn Zur'a al-Kilabi Aslam ibn Zurʿa ibn ʿAmr ibn Khuwaylid al-Ṣāʿiq al-Kilābī () () was a prominent Arab chieftain of the Qays tribal faction in Basra and Khurasan and served as the governor of Khurasan in 675 and 677–679. In the period between his two terms, ...
along with al-Harith ibn Yazid and his son
Zufar ibn al-Harith.
Meanwhile, Umar sent a detachment from Iraq to invade Jazirah from three different routes. Umar himself marched from Medina with 1,000 men.
On the orders of Umar,
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
, image = File:Saad ibn Abi Waqqas Masjid an-Nabawi Calligraphy.png
, alt =
, caption = His name in Arabic calligraphy
, birth_date =
, death_date =
, birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia
, death_place ...
, who had recently conquered
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
, sent Another detachment to assist Emesa under
Al-Qa'qa' ibn Amr al-Tamimi
Al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn ʿAmr ibn Mālik al-Tamīmī ( ar, القعقاع بن عمرو بن مالك التميمي) was an Arab Muslim commander and general in the Rashidun army, he belonged to the tribe of Banu Tamim. He and his tribe converted to I ...
, a prominent veteran of both
Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, ...
and
Battle of Qadisiyyah
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; fa, نبرد قادسیه, Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh) was an armed conflict which took place in 636 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and th ...
.
Another detachment from Suhayl ibn 'Uday followed al-Farad road until they reached Raqqa.
Siege
After the large contingent of Arab Christians came from Jazira has been mustered, they immediately marched to Homs, which immediately laid siege to the city.
As Khalid just returned from conquest of
Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...
,
he immediately appealed to Abu Ubaydah to be sen outside so he can led the sally outside the wall, However Abu Ubaidah decided they should wait behind the wall, while he waited for reinforcements
Counter siege
The sieges toward Circessium and Hit laid by corps under Iyadh occurred simultaneously as the siege of Homs goes on. At first the Muslims faced difficulty in the siege of Hit as the defenders dug a moat around the city, until the Muslim army was able to penetrate it.
Meanwhile, Circesium was captured from the Byzantines without resistance by a Muslim army commanded by Habib, Though many Muslim sources state this occurred in 637, Maximillan Streck stated it is more likely occurred in 640.
The counter sieges not only stopped on Circesium and Hit, as Iyadh further sent
Walid ibn Uqba to subdue the fortresses of the tribe of Rabi'a and Tanukhid.
Abu Ubaydah strategy of counter siege toward circesium and Hit not only resulted in a Muslim victory at the Second Battle of Emesa against the pro-Byzantine Christian Arabs of Jazira, but also succeeded to take both Circesium and Hit, while the Christian Arabs still being pursued by Khalid and his relentless cavalry from behind. Between the end of 639 and December 640, Iyad and his lieutenants subdued, in succession,
Circesium (al-Qarqisiya),
Amid,
Mayyafariqin,
Nisibin
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
,
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...
,
Mardin,
Dara
Dara is a given name used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the Bible's Old Testament Books of Chronicles. Dara רעwas a descendant of Judah (son of Jacob). (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also known ...
,
Qarda and
Bazabda. In the case of Raqqa (Kallinikos to the Byzantines), the peasants outside the city walls were defended by the Arab Christian nomads. There, the Muslim forces compelled the city's leaders, facing the prospect of starvation, to surrender within five or six days. As the city fell to the Muslims, Since then, it has figured in Arabic sources as ''al-Raqqah''.
End of siege
When the Christian Arabs received the news of the arrival of fresh reinforcements led by the caliph himself,
combined with Iyadh invasions of their homeland in Jazira,
they immediately abandoned the siege and hastily withdrew there.
By the time the Christian Arab coalitions leave, Khalid and his mobile guard has been reinforced by 4000 soldiers under Qa'qa from Iraq, and now has been given permission by Abu Ubaydah to came out of the fort to pursue the enemy.
Khalid inflicted heavy losses to the Arab Christian coalition forces, which not only broke the entire siege, but also prevented them to return to Jazira.
In summary, The objective of Jazira invasion by Iyadh to capture cities with minimal destruction and In Petersen's view, Iyad's campaign partially diverted the Christian Arab coalition forces in Syria has succeeded.
Aftermath
The success of the defense, which not only repelled the siege attempt by the Byzantine allies but also allowed Iyadh to capture almost entire Jazira region, has motivated the caliphate to launch the full-scale invasion further to the north until
it reached Armenia.
See also
*
Siege of Emesa
The siege of Emesa was laid by the forces of Rashidun Caliphate from December 635 up until March 636. This led to the Islamic conquest of Emesa, which was a major trading city of the Byzantine Empire in the Levant.
Background
After a decis ...
*
Jund Hims
''Jund Ḥimṣ'' ( ar, جند حمص, " military district of Homs") was one of the military districts of the caliphal province of Syria.
Geography
The capital of Jund Hims was Homs, from which the district received its name. Its principal urb ...
*
Muslim conquest of Armenia
The Muslim conquest of parts of Armenia and Anatolia was a part of the Muslim conquests after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632 CE.
Persarmenia had fallen to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate by 645 CE. Byzantine Armenia was alre ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
630s in the Byzantine Empire
Homs
Muslim conquest of the Levant
Emesa
ar, حمصي, Himsi
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicities
, population_blank1 =
, population_blank2_t ...
Heraclius
637