The Battle of Hattin

Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi crushed the Crusader army at the Horns of Hattin near Tiberias, capturing the king of Jerusalem and his senior commanders. The victory opened the road to recovering Jerusalem only months later.

Salah al-Din gathered his forces from Egypt, Syria and the Jazira, some thirty thousand strong, and lured the Crusader army out of its safe camp at Saffuriya across parched heights in the scorching July, after attacking Tiberias.

The Muslims closed in upon the Crusaders at the hills of the Horns of Hattin, drained by thirst, and set fire to the grass around them. When the battle cleared on Saturday 25 Rabiʿ al-Akhir 583 AH (4 July 1187), the Crusader army had been annihilated between slain and captive.

King Guy of Lusignan was captured, and Reynald of Châtillon, lord of Kerak and breaker of treaties, was seized — Salah al-Din killed him with his own hand, fulfilling his oath. After it the coast fell fortress by fortress, until Salah al-Din entered Jerusalem in Rajab of the same year.