In the same year, 1097, the First Crusade entered Syria, and al-Afdal sent an embassy to make contact with them. The Fatimids used the distraction of the Crusade to recover control of Jerusalem from its Artuqid rulers in July/August 1098. Al-Afdal did not expect the Crusaders to march south, and was caught by surprise when they moved against Jerusalem in 1099. The city was captured after a siege, and the subsequent defeat of a Fatimid army at the Battle of Ascalon on 5 August 1099 confirmed the new "status quo". As a result of the Crusader advance, many Syrians fled to Egypt, where a famine broke out in 1099 or 1100 as a result.