Siege of Damascus

Toward the end of al-Hakim's reign or the beginning of Caliph al-Zahir's reign (r. 1021–1036), Sinan and his brother-in-law, Mufarrij's' son Hassan, entered their tribes into a pact with Salih ibn Mirdas, whereby they would divide Fatimid Syria between themselves, with the Kalb under Sinan controlling Damascus. The pact was initially nullified after a reconciliation with the Fatimids, but renewed again in 1024 following a resumption of the Tayy's rebellion in Palestine. Sinan and Hassan visited Salih's camp outside Aleppo where the three launched their war.^[5]

By October 1024, the Kalb under Sinan had begun its siege of Damascus, while the Tayy had taken over Ramla, the capital of Palestine, and the Kilab was besieging Aleppo.^[6] The Kalb faced stiff resistance by the defenders of Damascus, consisting of the Fatimid garrison led by the governor Ibn Hamdan and the local militia under Abu Ya'la Ibn Abi'l-Jinn. The latter had reconciled the Fatimids and Damascenes and organized the defense of the city, whereby each defending faction would fight on alternate days. Sinan's Kalbites were early on backed by 3,000 warriors under Salih ibn Mirdas, and later, after the Tayy's sack of Ramla, by even more Bedouin horsemen.^[7]

Although the arrival of Kilab and Tayy reinforcements further strained the defenders' abilities, the Damascenes under Ibn Abi'l-Jinn refused to accept Sinan's offer to relieve the siege for a 30,000-dinar payment, fearing such an agreement would not be honored by the Bedouin. The latter had the advantage of being able to launch rapid assaults and then withdraw into the steppes to evade pursuit. They devastated the Ghouta oasis around Damascus and the Marj pasture grounds which encircled the Ghouta. The peasants from these regions who were not massacred fled for safety behind the city walls and joined the defense. The Bedouins focused mainly on looting grain stocks and suffered heavy casualties, with the Kalb losing some two hundred men and Sinan being wounded by an arrow. The Kalb elders and the Damascenes negotiated a truce, but after Sinan was reproached by Hassan, the tribe resumed the siege. Much of the fighting took place at Darayya, which suffered particular devastation, and the Damascenes were able to restore their city's defenses.^[7] By early 1025, the Damascenes had repulsed Sinan, who appears to have abandoned his designs to take the city, as his Tayy and Kilab counterparts had seized their targets, Ramla and Aleppo, respectively.^[8]