Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
In 1177, Saladin led a force of some 26,000 soldiers, according to Crusader chronicler William of Tyre, into southern Palestine after hearing that most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem's soldiers were besieging Harem, Syria west of Aleppo. Suddenly attacked by the Templars under Baldwin IV of Jerusalem near Ramla, the Ayyubid army was defeated at the Battle of Montgisard, with the majority of its troops killed. Saladin encamped at Homs the following year and a number of skirmishes between his forces, commanded by Farrukh Shah, and the Crusaders occurred. Undeterred, Saladin invaded the Crusader states from the west and defeated Baldwin at the Battle of Marj Ayyun in 1179. The following year, he destroyed the newly built Crusader castle of Chastellet at the Battle of Jacob's Ford. In the campaign of 1182, he sparred with Baldwin again in the inconclusive Battle of Belvoir Castle in Kawkab al-Hawa.