Capture of Damascus (1299)

Ghazan’s victory near Homs allowed the Ilkhanid army to advance toward Damascus. As Mongol forces approached, the city was abandoned by its defenders, and Damascene notables sought terms from Ghazan in late December 1299. Ghazan camped at Marj Rahit east of Damascus and accepted the city’s submission. Ilkhanid authority was formally acknowledged on 8 January 1300 when the Friday khutba in Damascus was proclaimed in Ghazan’s name.^[1] Following the occupation, Ghazan appointed Qibjaq and the Mongol commander Outlūshāh as joint governors of Damascus.^[2]

The Mongol withdrawal from Syria came almost as quickly as their advance. Ghazan left Damascus on 5 February 1300, possibly because of reports of Qarauna raids in southern Persia, though the exact reason for his departure is unclear. Qutlugh-Shah, who had been left in command at Damascus, attempted to besiege the citadel, which continued to resist even after the town had capitulated. After only a few days, he abandoned the siege and withdrew to follow Ghazan. By early May 1300, Mongol forces had evacuated Syria, and Egyptian forces had already reoccupied Damascus and restored Mamluk rule across the region.^[4] Ghazan soon returned to Persia after the occupation and announced that he intended to return to conquer Egypt, but the Ilkhanid position in Syria collapsed after the Mongols were defeated in 1303 at the Battle of Marj al-Saffar.^[5]

• Boyle, J. A. (1968). "Dynastic and Political History of the Il-Khans". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521069366.
• Levanoni, Amalia (2010). "The Mamlūks in Egypt and Syria: the Turkish Mamlūk Sultanate (648–784/1250–1382) and the Circassian Mamlūk Sultanate (784–923/1382–1517)". The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521839570.
• Runciman, Steven (2017). History of the Crusades III: The Kingdom of Acre. Penguin Books, Limited. ISBN 9780241298770.
• Aigle, Denise (2007). "The Mongol Invasions of Bilād al-Shām by Ghāzān Khān and Ibn Taymiyya's Three "Anti-Mongol" Fatwās" (PDF). Mamlūk Studies Review. 11 (2).