Crusader raids on the Red Sea

Raynald already had a reputation as a rogue Crusader lord, having conducted a brutal raid on Cyprus and having tortured Aimery of Limoges, the Patriarch of Antioch, to force him into giving him funds for his military adventures.

Raynald had the materials for five ships carted overland in 'kit form' from his castle at Kerak in Oultrejordain to the Gulf of Aqaba (an arm of the Red Sea).

Raynald seized the port of Ayla and blockaded the nearby island known to the Crusaders as Ile de Graye.

In Egypt Al-Adil, brother of the Ayyubid ruler Saladin, had ships transferred from Alexandria and Fustat to the Red Sea to pursue the Frankish raiders.

Despite Al-Adil initially granting quarter to the captive raiders, he was overruled by his brother Saladin who was adamant that because the Franks had shown the feasibility of attacking the holy cities of Islam they must be executed so that word of their incursions would not reach the Crusaders in Outremer.