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The Story of

Syria

1274 BCE – 2025

Country in West Asia

  1. Battle of Kadesh

    May 1274 BCE

    The Battle of Kadesh was a major military conflict in the early 13th century BC, between the attacking Ramesses II of the Egyptian Empire and defending Muwatalli II of the Hittite Empire. In the previous year, Ramesses II had invaded the neighboring province of Amurru.

  2. Battle of Qarqar

    853 BCE

    The Battle of Qarqar (or Ḳarḳar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Emperor Shalmaneser III encountered an allied army of eleven kings at Qarqar led by Hadadezer, called in Assyrian Adad-idir and possibly to be identified with King Benhadad II of Aram-Damascus; and Ahab, king of Israel. This battle, fought during the 854–846 BC Assyrian conquest of Aram, is notable for having a larger number of combatants than any previous battle, and for being the first instance in which some peoples enter recorded history, such as the Arabs.

  3. Battle of Carchemish

    605 BCE

    The Battle of Carchemish was a battle fought around 605 BCE between the armies of Egypt, allied with the remnants of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, against the armies of Babylonia. The forces would clash at Carchemish, an important military crossing and trade city on the banks of the Euphrates River in modern-day Syria.

  4. Battle of Mount Gindarus

    38 BCE

    The Battle of Mount Gindarus or battle of Cyrrhestica in 38 BC was a decisive victory for the Roman general Publius Ventidius Bassus over the Parthian army of Pacorus, son of King Orodes, in the Greater Syria district of Cyrrhestica.

  5. Battle of Resaena

    243

    The Battle of Resaena or Resaina, near present-day Ceylanpınar, Turkey, was fought in 243 between the forces of the Roman Empire, led by the Emperor Gordian III and the Praetorian Prefect Timesitheus against the Sasanian Empire's forces during the reign of Shapur I. The Romans were victorious.

  6. Battle of Callinicum

    19 April 531

    The Battle of Callinicum took place on Easter Saturday, 19 April 531, between the Byzantine Empire and Sasanian Empire during the Iberian War. Following the Persian defeat at the Battle of Dara, the Persian army, under the command of Azarethes, invaded Syria and advanced toward Antioch by taking a different route in an attempt to regain the initiative in the war.

  7. Siege of Damascus

    634

    The siege of Damascus (634) lasted from 21 August to 19 September 634 before the city fell to the Rashidun Caliphate. Damascus was the first major city of the Eastern Roman Empire to fall in the Muslim conquest of Syria.

  8. Battle of al-Qaryatayn

    June 634

    Battle of al-Qaryatayn was a minor battle between the Christian Ghassanid Arab allies of the Byzantine Empire, and the Rashidun Caliphate army. It was fought after Khalid ibn al-Walid had conquered Tadmur in Syria.

  9. Battle of Bosra

    June 634 – July 634

    The Battle of Bosra was fought in 634 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate army and the Byzantine Empire over the possession of the city of Bosra, in Syria. The city was one of the Islamic forces' first significant captures and was at the time the capital of the Ghassanids, Arab vassals of the Byzantines.

  10. Siege of Aleppo

    August 637 – October 637

    The siege of Aleppo, the Byzantine stronghold and one of the few remaining Byzantine castles in the northern Levant after the decisive Battle of Yarmouk, was laid between August and October 637.

  11. Battle of Siffin

    21 July 657 – 28 July 657

    The Battle of Siffin (Arabic: معركة صفّين, romanized: Maʿraka Ṣiffīn) was fought in 657 CE (37 AH) between the forces of the fourth Rashidun caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and the forces of the Umayyad governor of Syria, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The battle is named after its location Siffin on the banks of the Euphrates river.

  12. Battle of Ayn al-Warda

    January 685

    The Battle of Ayn al-Warda (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة‌ عَيْن ٱلْوَرْدَة) was fought in early January 685 between the Umayyad army and the Penitents (Tawwabin). The Penitents were a group of pro-Alid Kufans led by Sulayman ibn Surad, a companion of Muhammad, who wished to atone for their failure to assist Husayn ibn Ali in his abortive uprising against the Umayyads in 680.

  13. Battle of Azaz

    8 August 1030 – 10 August 1030

    The Battle of Azaz was an engagement fought in August 1030 near the Syrian town of Azaz between the Byzantine army, led by Emperor Romanos III Argyros (r. 1028–1034) in person, and the forces of the Mirdasid Emirate of Aleppo, likewise under the personal command of Emir Shibl al-Dawla Nasr (r. 1029–1038). The Mirdasids defeated the much larger Byzantine army and took great booty, even though they were eventually unable to capitalise on their victory.

  14. Siege of Ma'arra

    November 1098 – December 1098

    The siege of Ma'arra occurred in late 1098 in the city of Ma'arrat Nu'man, in what is modern-day Syria, during the First Crusade. It is infamous for cannibalism committed by the Crusaders, possibly on a widespread scale.

  15. Battle of Sarmin

    14 September 1115

    The Battle of Sarmin, also known as the Battle of Tell Danith, took place on 14 September 1115 with Roger of Salerno's Crusader army surprising and routing the Seljuk Turkish army of Bursuq ibn Bursuq of Hamadan. It is also known as the First Battle of Tell Danith, distinguishing it from the Battle of Hab of 1119, the Second Battle of Tell Danith.

  16. Battle of Ager Sanguinis

    28 June 1119

    Battle of the Field of Blood, also known in Latin as Battle of Ager Sanguinis, and in Arabic as Battle of al-Balat, was a battle where Roger of Salerno's Crusader army of the Principality of Antioch was annihilated by the army of Ilghazi of Mardin, the Artuqid ruler of Aleppo on 28 June 1119.

  17. Battle of Hab

    14 August 1119

    The Battle of Hab (Arabic: معركة هاب), also known as the Second Battle of Tell Danith, occurred on 14 August 1119, where a Crusader army commanded by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem won a disputed victory over a Muslim army led by Ilghazi of Mardin since the Muslim army claimed it as a victory also. The battle stabilised the Principality of Antioch, which had suffered a disastrous defeat only weeks before.

  18. Battle of Azaz

    11 June 1125

    The Battle of Azaz was fought on 11 June 1125 between King Baldwin II of Jerusalem's crusader forces and allied Muslim forces led by Aq-Sunqur al-Bursuqi, the Seljuq atabeg of Mosul. One of the bloodiest confrontations before the Second Crusade, the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Crusaders, causing disturbances of power in the Levant and weakening Seljuk domination in the area.

  19. Siege of Shaizar

    28 April 1138 – 21 May 1138

    The city of Shaizar was besieged from April 28 to May 21, 1138. The allied forces of the Byzantine Empire, Principality of Antioch and County of Edessa invaded Muslim Syria.

  20. Siege of Damascus

    28 July 1148

    The siege of Damascus took place between 24 and 28 July 1148 O.S. during the Second Crusade. Two Crusader armies from Europe and the army of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem attempted to lay siege to the Seljuk Empire city of Damascus.