The Impact of the Zengid Army of Atabeg on Saladin's Forces

After Saladin destroyed the Fatimid caliphate, a foremost part of the Ayyubids' military had to suppress the Egyptian forces that were still loyal to the Fatimids. Saladin's efforts to overpower and exile the Fatimid forces faced the newly established Ayyubid government with the shortage of military parties that needed to fight the Crusaders and the rest of the dispersed Zengid dynasty in the Levant and the Jazirah. At the beginning of Saladin's reign on the Jazirah, he organized his actions to gain the necessary feudal force to confront the Crusaders. However, when Saladin's authority declined among his troops and failed to achieve a decisive victory in the short term, this feudal force became temporary. This paper analyzed the number of Saladin's combats, the number of his troops, the extent of his successes in battles, and the role of groups impacting his victories. Along these lines, Saladin's failures were also investigated. According to the findings, destroying the Fatimid Caliphate forces drove Saladin to rely on the only Muslim military organization on the Jazirah. Their temporary presence in the spring and summer cost him his ability to completely force the Crusaders out of Syria after Hattin, and the Crusaders recaptured the shores of Syria.