invade Ḳaisârîyah [Caesarea]. According to others, however, Yazîd was appointed by ʿUmar as governor of the Jordan and Palestine; abu-ad-Dardâʾ, of Damascus; and ʿUbâdah ibn-aṣ-Ṣâmit, of Ḥimṣ.
The conquest of Ḳaisârîyah. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from al-Wâḳidi:—There is difference of opinion regarding the conquest of Ḳaisârîyah [Caesarea]. Some say Muʿâwiyah subdued it; others, ʿIyâ ibn-Ghanm, after the death of abu-ʿUbaidah whose successor he was; and still others ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi. According to some, ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi left for Egypt and appointed his son ʿAbdallâh to succeed him. The truth in all that, on which scholars agree, is that the first to lay siege to the city was ʿAmr ibn-al-ʿÂṣi who made his descent on it in Jumâda I, year 13. ʿAmr would camp around it as long as he could, and whenever the Moslem forces wanted to combine against their enemy, he would go to them. Thus he witnessed the battles of Ajnâdîn, Fiḥl, al-Marj, Damascus and al-Yarmûk. He then returned to Palestine and after taking Jerusalem laid siege to Ḳaisârîyah. From Ḳaisârîyah he left for Egypt. After abu-ʿUbaidah, Yazîd ibn-abi-Sufyân became governor of Syria, and he appointed his brother to press the siege. Smitten by the plague, Yazîd returned to Damascus where he died.
Other than al-Wâḳidi state that ʿUmar appointed Yazîd ibn-abi-Sufyân to the governorship of Palestine together with the other provinces of Syria and ordered him to invade Ḳaisârîyah which had already been besieged. Yazîd went against it with 17,000 men. Its people resisted; and he laid the siege. In the last part of the year 18, he fell ill and departed for Damascus leaving his brother Muʿâwiyah in his place at Ḳaisârîyah. Muʿâwiyah reduced the city[1]
- ↑ Yaʿḳûbi, vol ii, p. 172.
