The Battle of Belvoir Castle was a key engagement in Saladin's 1182 campaign testing Crusader defenses across Palestine and Galilee.
Key Facts
- Date
- 22 July 1182
- Also known as
- Battle of Le Forbelet
- Campaign period
- May – August 1182
- Ayyubid departure point
- Damascus, 11 June 1182
- Theatre of operations
- Ayla, Transjordan, Galilee, Beirut
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Saladin launched a broad military campaign from Damascus in mid-1182, departing on June 11 alongside his regent Farrukh Shah, with the goal of pressing Ayyubid power against Crusader holdings across the Levant. Entering Palestine from south of Tiberias, his forces advanced through Transjordan toward Galilee.
Near Belvoir Castle, Crusader forces led by King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem met the Ayyubid army commanded by Saladin. The two sides engaged in battle on July 22, 1182, in a confrontation that formed one of the principal military clashes of Saladin's summer campaign against the Crusader states.
The engagement was part of a sustained Ayyubid offensive that tested Crusader defensive capacity across a wide theatre stretching from Ayla to Beirut. The campaign demonstrated Saladin's ability to mount coordinated pressure on multiple Crusader fronts simultaneously during this period of the conflict.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem.
Side B
1 belligerent
Saladin, Farrukh Shah.