In 1250, the Ayyubid Egyptian dynasty was overthrown by slave regiments, and the Mamluk Sultanate was born. Military prestige was at the center of Mamluk society, and it played a key role in the confrontations with the Mongol Empire during the Mongol invasions of the Levant. In the 1260s, the Mongols sacked and controlled the Islamic Near East territories. The Mamluks, who were slave-soldiers predominantly of Turkic, Caucasian, and Southeastern European origins (see Saqaliba), forced out the Mongols (see Battle of Ain Jalut) after the final destruction of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Mongols were again defeated by the Mamluks at the Battle of Hims a few months later, and then driven out of Syria altogether. With this, the Mamluks were able to concentrate their forces and to conquer the last of the Crusader states in the Levant. Thus they united Syria and Egypt for the longest interval between the Abbasid and Ottoman empires (1250–1517).