Battle of Inab

In the Battle of Event locality::Inab, also called Battle of Ard al-Hâtim or Fons Muratus, the Syrian army of Nur ad-Din Zangi destroyed the Crusader army of Raymond of Antioch and the allied followers of Ali ibn-Wafa on Event date:29 June 1149.

Background
Nur ad-Din had gained control of Aleppo on the death of his father Zengi in 1146. He began to attack the Principality of Antioch and successfully defended Damascus against the Second Crusade in 1147, which had arrived to avenge Zengi's capture of the County of Edessa's capital city in 1144. In June of 1149, Nur ad-Din invaded Antioch and besieged the fortress of Inab, with aid from Unur of Damascus and a force of Turcomans. Nur ad-Din had about 6,000 troops, mostly cavalry, at his disposal.

Prince Raymond and his Christian neighbor Joscelin II of Edessa had been enemies since Raymond had refused to send a relief army to Edessa in 1146. In fact, Joscelin even made a treaty of alliance with Nur ad-Din against Raymond. For their part, Raymond II of Tripoli and the regent, Melisende of Jerusalem refused to aid the Prince of Antioch. Recklessly, Prince Raymond struck out on his own with an army of 400 knights and 1,000 foot soldiers.

Battle
Prince Raymond allied himself with Ali ibn-Wafa, leader of the Hashshashin and an enemy of Nur ad-Din. Before he had collected all his available forces, Raymond and his ally mounted a relief expedition. Amazed at the weakness of Prince Raymond's army, the atabeg at first suspected that it was only an advance guard and that the main Frankish army must be lurking nearby. Upon the approach of the combined force, Nur ad-Din raised the siege of Inab and withdrew. Rather than staying close to the stronghold, Raymond and ibn-Wafa camped with their forces in open country. After Nur ad-Din's scouts noted that the allies camped in an exposed location and did not receive reinforcements, the atabeg swiftly surrounded the enemy camp during the night.

On June 29, Nur ad-Din attacked and destroyed the army of Antioch. Presented with an opportunity to escape, the Prince of Antioch refused to abandon his soldiers. Raymond was a man of "immense stature" and fought back, "cutting down all who came near him". Nevertheless, both Raymond and ibn-Wafa were killed, along with Reynald of Marash. A few Franks escaped the disaster. Much of the territory of Antioch was now open to Nur ad-Din, the most important of which was a route to the Mediterranean. Nur ad-Din rode out to the coast and bathed in the sea as a symbol of his conquest.

One author says the Crusader defeat at Inab was "as disastrous at that of the Ager Sanguinis" a generation earlier. In the aftermath, castles at Harim and Apamea fell to the victorious atabeg. Harim was not recovered until 1157, then lost permanently in 1164.

Aftermath
Nur ad-Din then went on to besiege Antioch itself, but was unable to take it. Although devastated by the loss of its prince, the city was vigorously defended by Raymond's widow Constance and the Patriarch Aimery of Limoges. King Baldwin III of Jerusalem marched north to relieve the siege. Joscelin now found that his enemy Raymond's defeat and death placed his own possessions in extreme peril. Joscelin would soon be captured by Nur ed-Din and what remained of his County of Edessa evacuated by its Latin inhabitants. The next action was the Battle of Aintab.

After the victory at Inab, Nur ad-Din became a hero throughout the Islamic world. His goal became the destruction of the Crusader states, and the strengthening of Islam through jihad; he had already set up religious schools and new mosques in Aleppo, and expelled those he considered heretics from his territory, especially Shiites. Jihad was influenced by the presence of the Christian Crusader states as it could be used as an excuse for maintenance of a permanent state of war. Nur ad-Din went on to capture the remnants of the County of Edessa, and brought Damascus under his rule in 1154, further weakening the Crusader states.