Battle of Belvoir Castle ( 1182 ) In the campaign and Battle of Belvoir Castle ( Kaukab al - Hawa ) , a Crusader force led by King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem sparred inconclusively with an Ayyubid army from Egypt commanded by Saladin . The theatre of operations included Eilat , the Transjordan , Galilee and Beirut . Background . Saladin was appointed commander of the Syrian troops and vizier of the Fāțimid caliph in Egypt in 1169 and established the Ayyubid Sultanate soon after . He slowly began extending his dominion over Muslim emirates in Syria formerly held by Nur al - Din . In 1177 , Saladin mounted a major invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from Egypt and was thoroughly defeated by Baldwin IV ( the " Leper King " ) at the Battle of Montgisard . Henceforth , the Muslim leader learned to respect the young Crusader king ' s military talents . In 1179 , Saladin defeated Baldwin at the Battle of Marj Ayyun in Lebanon . In 1180 , Saladin arranged a truce between himself and two Christian leaders , King Baldwin and Raymond III of Tripoli . But two years later , the lord of the Transjordan fief of Kerak , Reynald of Châtillon , attacked Muslim caravans passing through his lands . Resenting this violation of the truce , Saladin immediately assembled his army and prepared to strike . Campaign . On May 11 , 1182 , Saladin left Egypt and led his army north toward Damascus via Aila on the Red Sea . As he moved north , his army entered lands belonging to the fiefs of Montreal ( Shobak ) and Kerak . Saladin encamped at Jerba and launched raids on Montreal , which did great damage to the crops . At a council of war , the Crusader princes pondered two courses of action . They could move across the Jordan River to protect the exposed fiefs . Raymond of Tripoli argued against this strategy , saying that would leave too few soldiers to protect the kingdom . The aggressive Baldwin overruled Raymond and the Crusader army moved to Petra in the Transjordan , thus defending the lands of his vassal . Meanwhile , Saladin ' s nephew , Farrukh Shah , led a force from Damascus to ravage the now - undefended Latin Principality of Galilee . In this destructive raid , the emirs of Bosra , Baalbek and Homs and their followers joined Farrukh . Before returning to Damascus , the raiders seized the castle of Habis Jaldak from its weak Frankish garrison . Out in the Transjordan , the main armies still faced each other . A Frankish plan was proposed to occupy the water points , thus forcing Saladin into the desert , but the Crusaders were unable to carry this out . The Muslim commander moved north and reached Damascus on June 22 . The Crusaders recrossed the Jordan into Galilee and concentrated their army at Sephoria , six miles northwest of Nazareth . After a three week breathing spell , Saladin marched out of the Damascus on July 11 and advanced to Al - Quhwana on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee . From there he sent forces to raid the Jordan valley , Jenin and the district of St Jean d ' Acre . One raiding column attacked Baisan but was driven off . Saladin took his main army , crossed to the west side of the Jordan and moved south along the high ground . Battle . As soon as reconnaissance patrols revealed the Muslim leader ' s maneuver , the Frankish leaders determined to move their field army into close contact with Saladin ' s army . After adding reinforcements by stripping nearby castles of most of their garrisons , the Crusader army marched to Tiberias then turned south . In the vicinity of Belvoir castle ( Kaukab al - Hawa ) , Baldwin ' s men spent the night in their closely guarded camp . The next morning , the Ayyubid army confronted the Crusaders . The Franks advanced in their usual formation when in contact with their enemies . The infantry marched in close order , with the spearmen guarding against direct attack and archers keeping the Saracens at a distance . Shielded by the footmen , the cavalry conformed to the pace of the infantry , ready to drive back their enemies with controlled charges . The Crusaders successfully used this method of fighting in the Battle of Shaizar ( 1111 ) and the Battle of Bosra ( 1147 ) . For their part , Saladin ' s soldiers tried to disrupt the Crusader formation by raining arrows from their horse archers , by partial attacks and by feigned retreats . " It is likely that from time to time the Turks came to close quarters , and this has caused some writers to refer to the action as a battle . It is more probable that although there were short episodes in which there was hard fighting , there was no pitched engagement . " On this occasion , the Franks could neither be tempted into fighting a pitched battle nor stopped . Unable to make an impression on the Latin host , Saladin broke off the running battle and returned to Damascus . Aftermath . Saladin was not finished yet . He had arranged for an Egyptian fleet to attack Beirut . As soon as his scouts had spotted the fleet from the Lebanese mountains , Saladin left Damascus , marched through the Munaitra Pass and laid siege to Beirut . At the same time , a force from Egypt raided the southern part of the kingdom , doing further local damage . Baldwin recalled his army to Sephoria then marched to Tyre . From there he appropriated shipping and organized an attempt to relieve the port of Beirut by both land and sea . When Saladin heard of these efforts , he raised the siege and ended his campaign in August 1182 . The tireless Saladin spent the next twelve months campaigning in Syria and Mesopotamia , adding Aleppo and a number of other cities to his growing empire . He would invade the Kingdom of Jerusalem again in September 1183 . Free of his adversary , in October 1182 Baldwin recovered Habis Jaldak in the Transjordan . In December , Raymond of Tripoli launched a raid in the same area and Baldwin took a mounted force within a few miles of Damascus . But these were mere pinpricks . Not long afterward , Baldwin became completely incapacitated by leprosy and was forced to appoint his sister Sibylla ' s husband Guy of Lusignan as regent . Commentary . The Crusaders kept their enemies from capturing any strongholds and kept their field army intact , so they succeeded in their strategic purpose . But Saladin ' s raiders managed to inflict great damage on the countryside . Frankish overlords depended on the rents of their tenants , but these could not be collected if the crops were ruined . Without money , the lords could not pay their soldiers . Therefore , constant devastations would ultimately reduce the Frankish kingdom to a state of helplessness . Saladin forced the Crusaders into a cruel dilemma . They could concentrate their field army to resist the Muslim main army . Or , they could guard against damaging raids . They could not do both because their military power was limited . " A single mistake on the part of a Frankish commander could lose the field army , the fortresses , and with them the whole kingdom . " This finally happened in 1187 at the Battle of Hattin . First , the campaign and Battle of Al - Fule would be fought .