Ottoman Syria is the base from which French-occupied Egypt might most easily be threatened, and Bonaparte resolves to deny it to his enemies.

In February 1799, hoping to prevent a Turkish invasion of Egypt and perhaps to attempt a return to France by way of Anatolia, Bonaparte moves an army into the Ottoman province of Damascus (Syria and Galilee).

He leads these thirteen thousand French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns.

The French army, commanded by General Jean-Baptiste Kléber, finds its passage blocked near the border by a fort at El Arish.

The garrison, some twenty-five hundred determined defenders, refuses to surrender and remains within the fort while the French capture its surrounds and bring up cannon with which to blast open a breach, but the eight-pounders do little damage.

When an impatient Bonaparte arrives to discover the cause of the delay to the advance, he orders heavier guns into action.

After two days of ferocious bombardment, the defenders finally agree to surrender, but their stubborn resistance has cost Bonaparte ten days in which Jezzar has had time to prepare the formidable defenses of the fortress at Acre.