Editing Saladin (section)

===Possession of Aleppo===
[[File:Citadel_of_Aleppo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Citadel of Aleppo]].]]
Saladin turned his attention from Mosul to Aleppo, sending his brother Taj al-Muluk Buri to capture Tell Khalid, 130&nbsp;km northeast of the city. A siege was set, but the governor of Tell Khalid surrendered upon the arrival of Saladin himself on 17 May before a siege could take place. According to Imad ad-Din, after Tell Khalid, Saladin took a detour northwards to [[Aintab]], but he gained possession of it when his army turned towards it, allowing him to quickly move backward another c. 100&nbsp;km towards Aleppo. On 21 May, he camped outside the city, positioning himself east of the [[Citadel of Aleppo]], while his forces encircled the suburb of Banaqusa to the northeast and [[Bab al-Jinan|Bab Janan]] to the west. He stationed his men dangerously close to the city, hoping for an early success.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=195}}

Zangi did not offer long resistance. He was unpopular with his subjects and wished to return to his Sinjar, the city he governed previously. An exchange was negotiated where Zangi would hand over Aleppo to Saladin in return for the restoration of his control of Sinjar, Nusaybin, and Raqqa. Zangi would hold these territories as Saladin's vassals in terms of military service. On 12 June, Aleppo was formally placed in Ayyubid hands.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|pp=172–173}} The people of Aleppo had not known about these negotiations and were taken by surprise when Saladin's standard was hoisted over the citadel. Two ''emir''s, including an old friend of Saladin, Izz ad-Din Jurduk, welcomed and pledged their service to him. Saladin replaced the [[Hanafi]] courts with Shafi'i administration, despite a promise that he would not interfere in the religious leadership of the city. Although he was short of money, Saladin also allowed the departing Zangi to take all the stores of the citadel that he could travel with and to sell the remainder—which Saladin purchased himself. In spite of his earlier hesitation to go through with the exchange, he had no doubts about his success, stating that Aleppo was "the key to the lands" and "this city is the eye of Syria and the citadel is its pupil".{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=199}} For Saladin, the capture of the city marked the end of over eight years of waiting since he told Farrukh-Shah that "we have only to do the milking and Aleppo will be ours".{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|pp=198–201}}

After spending one night in Aleppo's citadel, Saladin marched to Harim, near the Crusader-held [[Antioch]]. The city was held by Surhak, a "minor ''[[mamluk]]''". Saladin offered him the city of [[Bosra|Busra]] and property in Damascus in exchange for [[Harem, Syria|Harim]], but when Surhak asked for more, his own garrison in Harim forced him out. He was arrested by Saladin's deputy Taqi ad-Din on allegations that he was planning to cede Harim to [[Bohemond III, Prince of Antioch|Bohemond III of Antioch]]. When Saladin received its surrender, he proceeded to arrange the defense of Harim from the Crusaders. He reported to the caliph and his own subordinates in Yemen and [[Baalbek]] that he was going to attack the Armenians. Before he could move, however, there were a number of administrative details to be settled. Saladin agreed to a truce with Bohemond in return for Muslim prisoners being held by him and then he gave A'zaz to Alam ad-Din Suleiman and Aleppo to Saif ad-Din al-Yazkuj—the former was an ''emir'' of Aleppo who joined Saladin and the latter was a former ''mamluk'' of Shirkuh who helped rescue him from the assassination attempt at A'zaz.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|pp=202–203}}