Citadel of Damascus
The Mongols successfully took the city of Aleppo, and were there joined by King Hethum, whose forces included some Templars and Hospitallers from Armenia, who participated in the rest of the offensive. The Mongols and their allies defeated the Mamluks in the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, on December 23 or 24, 1299, and then proceeded on to Damascus, which surrendered somewhere between December 30, 1299, and January 6, 1300, though the Citadel of Damascus resisted. Ghazan then retreated most of his forces in February, probably because their horses needed fodder. He promised to return in the winter of 1300–1301 to attack Egypt. A relatively small force of Mongols, about 10,000 horsemen under the Mongol general Mulay, ruled over Syria, and engaged in raids as far south as Jerusalem and Gaza. But that small force had to retreat when the Mamluks returned in May 1300.