Battle of al - Buqaia In the Battle of al - Buqaia ( Al - Buqai ' a al Hosn ) in 1163 , the Crusaders and their allies inflicted a rare defeat on Nur ad - Din Zangi , the Emir of Aleppo and Damascus . King Amalric I led the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , together with contingents from the northern Latin states , a substantial body of pilgrims who had just arrived from France , and a force brought by the Byzantine governor of Cilicia . For the Christian forces , this victory only gave a brief respite from the sustained Muslim offensive . Background . Nur ad - Din proved to be one of the most dangerous enemies the Frankish kingdom had ever faced . Starting out as Emir of Aleppo , he steadily increased his territory at the expense of his Muslim and Latin neighbors , until he gained the great city of Damascus in 1154 . He seriously defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Lake Huleh in 1157 , but fell very ill immediately afterward . This event allowed the Franks to a chance to recover and , with the help of Thierry of Alsace and an army of pilgrims , to capture Harim castle later in the year . However , an attack on Shaizar failed when Reynald of Châtillon , the Prince of Antioch , quarreled with the other Franks . Consequently , Shaizar soon became the property of Nur ad - Din . In 1158 , Thierry and King Baldwin III beat Nur ad - Din at Butaiha , northeast of Tiberias . The year 1160 saw the capture of Reynald , who spent the next 16 years in Nur ad - Din ' s dungeons . In December 1161 , the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus married Maria of Antioch and this event gave Antioch a strong protector in the emperor . Both Amalric and Nur ad - Din soon became aware of the weakness of Fatimid Egypt , whose government had fallen into a state of decay . After the assassination of Caliph al - Zafir and a series of palace coups , Shawar seized power in 1162 , was soon deposed , and appealed to Nur ad - Din for help . Neither the Latin king nor the Muslim emir could afford to let the other capture the rich prize of Egypt . Accordingly , Nur ad - Din sent his lieutenant Shirkuh with an army to support the Egyptian vizier . Battle . While Shirkuh campaigned in Egypt , Nur ad - Din mounted an offensive in Lebanon . Following Latin policy , King Amalric took an army to support his northern vassals , Bohemund III of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli . Fortuitously , a large group of French pilgrims led by Hugh VIII of Lusignan and Geoffrey Martel , the brother of William IV of Angoulême , joined the king of Jerusalem . In addition , Konstantinos Kalamanos , the governor of Cilicia brought his Greek warriors to assist the Crusaders . Nur ad - Din was no match for such a formidable combination of enemies and his army suffered a defeat . Both Muslims and Franks were impressed by the fighting qualities of the Byzantine soldiers . The negative result of al - Buqaia only made Nur ad - Din more keen for revenge . Aftermath . Believing his northern front secure , Amalric took his army to Egypt . He found himself in a three - way contest between his Franks , Shirkuh , and Shawar , with the latter trying maintain Egyptian independence . Amalric ousted Shirkuh from Egypt in 1164 , but the king had to rapidly abandon Egypt upon the news of a great disaster in the north . The next major encounter would be the Battle of Harim .