Battle of Saraye
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| Battle of Saraye | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ethiopian–Adal War | |||||||||
 An Ethiopian painting depicting the Adalites pursuing the fleeing Abyssinian army | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Adal Sultanate |
 Ethiopian Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Wazir Abbas Abu Bakr Qatin |
Tasfa Le’ul † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 600 | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Minimal | Heavy; entire force annihilated | ||||||||
The Battle of Saraye was fought in 1535 between Adal Sultanate forces under Wazir Abbas and the Abyssinian army under Tafsā Le’ul. The battle ended with a victory for the Muslim Adalites against the Christian Ethiopians.
After conquered Tigre and Aksum, Imam Ahmed Gurey sent his top general Wazir ‘Addoli to support his nephew Wazir Abbas who was conquering the northern regions of Medri Bahri specifically Seraye.[1] However Addoli and Abbas were ambushed by an Azmach of Saraye named Tafsā Le’ul though outnumbered Addoli valiantly used himself to help his men escape facing the massive army alone before eventually succumbing to his wounds. [1]: 368 [2] Tafsā Le’ul then beheaded Addoli's corpse and sent it Dawit II who prepared a feast a celebrated what he supposed was a turning of the tide of the war. Imam Ahmed upon hearing the news marched at the head of an army to meet up with Abbas however Tafsā Le’ul heard this news and encountered Abbas before he could meet up with The Imam. [1]: 368