Editing Saladin (section)

==Return to Cairo and forays in Palestine==
[[File:Citadel of Salah El.Din.jpg|thumb|The [[Citadel of Cairo]] was begun by Saladin towards 1176 to serve as Egypt's center of power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raymond |first=André |url=http://archive.org/details/cairo0000raym |title=Cairo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-674-00316-3 |pages=85–87 |language=en |translator-last=Wood |translator-first=Willard |orig-date=1993}}</ref> Later structures were added to it over the centuries.]]
After leaving the an-Nusayriyah Mountains, Saladin returned to Damascus and had his Syrian soldiers return home. He left Turan Shah in command of Syria and left for Egypt with only his personal followers, reaching Cairo on 22 September. Having been absent for roughly two years, he had much to organize and supervise in Egypt, namely fortifying and reconstructing Cairo. The city walls were repaired and their extensions laid out, while the construction of the [[Cairo Citadel]] was commenced.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=151}} The {{convert|280|ft|m}} deep Bir Yusuf ("Joseph's Well") was built on Saladin's orders. The chief public work he commissioned outside of Cairo was the large bridge at [[Giza]], which was intended to form an outwork of defence against a potential [[Moorish]] invasion.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=153}}

Saladin remained in Cairo supervising its improvements, building colleges such as the Madrasa of the Sword Makers and ordering the internal administration of the country. In November 1177, he set out upon a raid into Palestine; the Crusaders had recently forayed into the territory of Damascus, so Saladin saw the truce as no longer worth preserving. The Christians sent a large portion of their army to besiege the fortress of [[Harem, Syria|Harim]] north of Aleppo, so southern Palestine bore few defenders.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=153}} Saladin found the situation ripe and marched to [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]], which he referred to as the "Bride of Syria". [[William of Tyre]] recorded that the Ayyubid army consisted of {{formatnum:26000}} soldiers, of which 8,000 were elite forces and {{formatnum:18000}} were black soldiers from Sudan. This army proceeded to raid the countryside, sack [[Ramla]] and [[Lod]], and disperse themselves as far as the [[Gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls|Gates of Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=154}}

===Battles and truce with Baldwin===
The Ayyubids allowed [[Baldwin IV of Jerusalem]] to enter Ascalon with his famous Gaza-based [[Knights Templar]] without taking any precautions against a sudden attack. Although the Crusader force consisted of only 375 knights, Saladin hesitated to ambush them because of the presence of highly skilled templar generals. On 25 November, while the greater part of the Ayyubid army was absent, Saladin and his men were surprised near Ramla in the [[battle of Montgisard]] (possibly at [[Gezer]], also known as Tell Jezar). Before they could form up, the Templar force hacked the Ayyubid army down by body-to-body of sword. Initially, Saladin attempted to organize his men into battle order, but as his bodyguards were being killed, he saw that defeat was inevitable and so with a small remnant of his troops mounted a swift camel, riding all the way to the territories of Egypt.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=155}}

Not discouraged by his defeat at Montgisard, Saladin was prepared to fight the Crusaders once again. In the spring of 1178, he was encamped under the walls of Homs, and a few skirmishes occurred between his generals and the Crusader army. His forces in Hama won a victory over their enemy and brought the spoils, together with many prisoners of war, to Saladin who ordered the captives to be beheaded for "plundering and laying waste the lands of the Faithful". He spent the rest of the year in Syria without a confrontation with his enemies.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=156}}

[[File:JacobsFordBattlefield.jpg|thumb|The battlefield at [[Jacob's Ford]], looking from the west bank to the east bank of the [[River Jordan]]]]

Saladin's intelligence services reported to him that the Crusaders were planning a raid into Syria. He ordered one of his generals, Farrukh-Shah, to guard the Damascus frontier with a thousand of his men to watch for an attack, then to retire, avoiding battle, and to light warning beacons on the hills, after which Saladin would march out. In April 1179, the Crusaders and Templars led by King Baldwin expected no resistance and waited to launch a surprise attack on Muslim herders grazing their herds and flocks east of the [[Golan Heights]]. Baldwin advanced too rashly in pursuit of Farrukh-Shah's force, which was concentrated southeast of [[Quneitra]] and was subsequently defeated by the Ayyubids. With this victory, Saladin decided to call in more troops from Egypt; he requested [[al-Adil]] to dispatch 1,500 horsemen.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=136}}

In the summer of 1179, King Baldwin had set up an outpost on the road to Damascus and aimed to fortify a passage over the [[Jordan River]], known as [[Jacob's Ford]], that commanded the approach to the [[Banias]] plain (the plain was divided by the Muslims and the Christians). Saladin had offered 100,000 [[gold]] pieces to Baldwin to abandon the project, which was particularly offensive to the Muslims, but to no avail. He then resolved to destroy the fortress, called "Chastellet" and defended by the Templars knights, moving his headquarters to Banias. As the Crusaders hurried down to attack the Muslim forces, they fell into disorder, with the infantry falling behind. Despite early success, they pursued the Muslims far enough to become scattered, and Saladin took advantage by rallying his troops and charging at the Crusaders. The engagement ended in a decisive Ayyubid victory, and many high-ranking knights were captured. Saladin then moved to [[Battle of Jacob's Ford|besiege the fortress]], which fell on 30 August 1179.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|pp=157–159}}

In the spring of 1180, while Saladin was in the area of [[Safad]], anxious to commence a vigorous campaign against the Kingdom of Jerusalem, King Baldwin sent messengers to him with proposals of peace. Because droughts and bad harvests hampered his [[commissariat]], Saladin agreed to a truce. [[Raymond III of Tripoli|Raymond of Tripoli]] denounced the truce but was compelled to accept after an Ayyubid raid on his territory in May and upon the appearance of Saladin's naval fleet off the port of [[Tartus]].{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|pp=160–161}}