Entering Palestine from the south of Tiberias, Saladin encountered the Crusader army coming from Transjordan near Belvoir Castle.

In 1180, Saladin arranged a truce between himself and two Christian leaders, King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raymond III of Tripoli to prevent bloodshed.

But two years later, in 1182, the lord of the Transjordan fief of Kerak, Reynald of Châtillon, ruthlessly attacked Muslim caravans passing through his lands on their way for pilgrimage, breaking pacts for the safe passage of pilgrims.

The aggressive Baldwin IV overruled Raymond III and the Crusader army moved to Petra in the Jordan, thus defending the lands of his vassal.

Before returning to Damascus, the raiders seized the cave castle of Habis Jaldak in the Yarmuk Valley from its weak Frankish garrison.

A Frankish plan was proposed to occupy the water points, thus forcing Saladin into the desert, but the Crusaders were unable to carry this out.

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

In the vicinity of Belvoir Castle (Arabic name: Kaukab al-Hawa), Baldwin's men spent the night in their closely guarded camp.

Shielded by the footmen, the cavalry conformed to the pace of the infantry, ready to drive back their enemies with controlled charges.

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

As soon as his scouts had spotted the fleet from the Lebanese mountains, Saladin left Damascus, marched through the Munaitra Pass and laid siege to Beirut.

The tireless Saladin spent the next twelve months campaigning in Syria and Mesopotamia, adding Aleppo and a number of other cities to his growing empire.

In December 1182, Raymond III of Tripoli launched a raid in the same area and King Baldwin IV took a mounted force within a few miles of Damascus.

Not long afterward, Baldwin became completely incapacitated by leprosy and was forced to appoint his sister Sibylla's husband Guy of Lusignan as regent.