In 602 the Persian armies under Chosroes II (r.590-628) advanced into Syria and Palestine. Hamath and Edessa were reduced in 609, Aleppo in 611, Antioch, Damascus and Jerusalem in 614, Egypt in 618. In 622 Heraclius (c.66; r.610-641) led the counterattack. His six-year campaign drove the Sassanids from most of the empire.
The struggles between the Byzantines and Sassanids for dominance in Arabia affected two pre-Islamic Arab dynasties: the Ghassanids, whose pro-Byzantine kingdom was located in parts of present-day Syria, Jordan and Israel; and the Lakhmids, whose kingdom centred at al-Hirah in present-day central-south Iraq was allied with Persia. Almost incessant war was waged between these two Arab kingdoms, chiefly at the behest of the Byzantines or the Persians. Both kingdoms collapsed and disappeared during the Muslim conquest.
The natural direction for the extension of Islamic influence was northward. Heraclius’ defensive plan envisaged the defending of major Persian attacks from the north, leaving sporadic Arab incursions from the south to be handled by the local garrisons. Once they found their frontier raids met little resistance the Muslims became a major threat.
In 629 a Muslim force of about 3000 men left Medina to attack the region east of Jordan. It was intercepted by a Byzantine army at the village of Mutah not far from Karak east of the Dead Sea. According to Muslim histories the battle ended in a draw and a safe retreat for both sides. In October 630 a large army led by Mohammed (c.570-632) reached the city of Tobouk in northwest Saudi Arabia. Its inhabitants surrendered without putting up a fight and decided to pay tribute.
In 633 the Muslim commander Khalid ibn al-Walid (592-642) took al-Hira in southern Iraq. In the same year detachments invaded Syria and Palestine. A weak Byzantine army was defeated by the Arabs at Wadi al-Arabah south of the Dead Sea and its remnants annihilated (February 634) at the village of Dathin not far from Gaza.
In early June 634 Khalid marched his army westward across the Syrian Desert. Sawa, Arak, Qadma and Tadmor were the first Syrian cities to fall. The cities of al-Sukhnah, Qaryatayn and Hawarin were captured after a Battle at Qarteen. Khalid then turned southwards to join the three Muslim forces operating in what are now Jordan, Palestine and southern Syria.
In July 634 Khalid defeated a Byzantine force east of Damascus at Marj al-Rahit. The combined Muslim army then laid siege to the city of Bosra in southwest Syria, and in mid-July 634 that city fell. The shattered Byzantine force was defeated (30 July 634) in a renewed Muslim assault at Ajnadayn southeast of Jerusalem.
A Muslim success (23 January 635) at Fahl close to Pella, was followed by an inconclusive clash at Marj al-Saffar south of Damascus. The Muslims began to lay siege to Damascus in March and the city surrendered in September 635. Heraclius ordered a major counteroffensive to recover Syria. In 636 a Byzantine army of 50,000 men arrived in southern Syria. The Muslims withdrew from the towns they had conquered and concentrated all their available manpower, about 25,000 men, on the left bank of the Yarmuk, a tributary of the Jordan.
On 15 August 636 the battle was joined and at the end of the battle the Muslims had scored a decisive victory and were able to reoccupy all the towns they had vacated before the battle. In the follow-up a Muslim victory at Hazir in June 537 was followed by the surrender of the city of Aleppo in October 637 after a siege. This effectively was the end of Byzantine resistance to the Muslim invaders in Syria.
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