Siege of Aleppo (1183)

June 1183: an exchange, not a storming

Saladin's forces took possession of Aleppo and its citadel in June 1183, ending the city's role as the last principal centre of Zengid power in Syria.

After Saladin camped outside the walls and fighting occurred around the city, its Zengid ruler Imad al-Din Zengi II negotiated its surrender rather than waiting for a successful assault.

Ibn al-Athir's translated conversion places the handover on 11 June; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi converts 18 Safar 579 to 12 June.

The terms

Imad al-Din ceded Aleppo in exchange for Sinjar, Nisibis, Khabur, Raqqa and Saruj, and undertook to provide personal and military service when summoned.

Ibn al-Athir says Aleppo's residents learned of the secret agreement when Saladin's banner appeared over the citadel. Some mocked the departing ruler with a wash tub, shouting that he was fit to wash clothes rather than rule.

Saladin's chancery boasted that the exchange was like receiving gold dinars while paying in silver dirhams.

What it did not make him

The transfer materially strengthened Saladin's control of Syria, but it did not make him sultan for the first time: Abbasid investiture as sultan of Egypt and Syria had come in May 1175.

Nor did it complete his hold on the region. Mosul remained outside his direct possession, and accepted client status only in 1186.