Editing 640 (section)

==== Africa ====
* May &ndash; [[Babylon Fortress|Siege of Babylon Fortress]]: The [[Rashidun army]] lays siege to [[Babylon Fortress]] in the [[Nile Delta]] (near [[Coptic Cairo|Cairo]]). The next two months' fighting remain inconclusive, the [[Byzantine Greeks|Byzantines]] having the upper hand by repulsing every Muslim assault.<ref>Butler, Alfred, ''The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty years of Roman Dominion'', p. 222</ref>
* [[July 6]] &ndash; [[Battle of Heliopolis]]: The [[Arab Muslims|Muslim Arab]] army (15,000 men) under [[Amr ibn al-As]] defeats the Byzantine forces near [[Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] ([[Diocese of Egypt (Late Antiquity)|Egypt]]). Amr divides his troops into three parts, surrounding the Byzantines.  
* [[December 21]] &ndash; Muslim Arabs capture Babylon after a seven-month siege; during a night assault Arab warriors open the [[city gate]]s.<ref>Al Farooq, Umar by Muhammad Husayn Haykal, chapter nr. 21</ref> The [[Thebaid]] region ([[Upper Egypt]]) is annexed by the [[Rashidun Caliphate]].
* [[December 22]] &ndash; On orders of the Saracen leader, Amar, the [[Serapeum of Alexandria]], containing works that had survived the destruction of the [[Library of Alexandria]], is burned down, along with its collection of 500,000 manuscripts.<ref name=Fires>"Fires, Great", in ''The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance'', Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) pp24</ref> This story may be apocryphal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/207/what-happened-to-the-great-library-at-alexandria/|title=What happened to the Great Library at Alexandria?|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=2020-01-09}}</ref>