Belvoir Fortress Israel Israel

Saladin, after a three week breathing spell, on July 11 marches out of Damascus and advances to Al-Quhwana on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

From here he sends forces to raid the Jordan valley, Jenin and the district of St Jean d'Acre.

One raiding column attacks Baisan but is driven off.

Saladin takes his main army, crossed to the west side of the Jordan and moves south along the high ground.

The Frankish leaders as soon as reconnaissance patrols reveal the Muslim leader's maneuver determine to move their field army into close contact with Saladin's.

After adding reinforcements by stripping nearby castles of most of their garrisons, the Crusader army marches to Tiberias, then turns south.

Baldwin's men in the vicinity of Belvoir castle (Kaukab al-Hawa) spend the night in their closely guarded camp.

The Ayyubid army confronts the crusaders the next morning.

The Franks advance in their usual formation when in contact with their enemies.

The infantry marches in close order, with the spearmen guarding against direct attack and archers keeping the Saracens at a distance.

The cavalry, shielded by the footmen, conform to the pace of the infantry, ready to drive back their enemies with controlled charges.

The crusaders had successfully used this method of fighting in 1111 in the Battle of Shaizar and in 1147 in the Battle of Bosra.

Saladin's soldiers, for their part, try to disrupt the Crusader formation by raining arrows from their horse archers, by partial attacks and by feigned retreats.

The Franks on this occasion can neither be tempted into fighting a pitched battle nor stopped.

Saladin, nable to make an impression on the Latin host,  breaks off the running battle and returns to Damascus.

All the territory of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem is in Saladin's hands by 1189 except Belvoir (modern Kokhov ha-Yarden) and …

…Tyre, which had withstood the siege, and Saladin's army, desiring more profitable conquests, had moved on south to Caesarea, Arsuf, and Jaffa.

Meanwhile, Conrad has sent out appeals for aid to the West, including propaganda drawings of the horses of Saladin's army stabled (and urinating) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The sultan has turned his attention to other tasks, but tries to negotiate the surrender of Tyre by treaty, as in mid-1188 the first reinforcements from Europe had arrived at Tyre by sea.

Under the terms of the treaty, Saladin will, among other things, release King Guy, whom he had captured at Hattin.

This will escalate the conflict between Guy, who is blamed for the catastrophe of Hattin, and Conrad, who has successfully defended Tyre from the subsequent invasion.