Byzantine Battles: Battle of Alexandretta

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4 th century

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5 th century

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6 th century

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7 th century

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8 th century

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9 th century

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10 th century

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11 th century

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12 th century

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13 th century

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14 th century

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15 th century

Battle of Alexandretta	year: 971
Annihilation of an Arab force by the Byzantines which ended the siege of Antioch	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Arabs (Fatimids)	location: Near Alexandretta in southern Turkey	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: City Capture	war: Later Byzantine-Muslim Wars	modern country: Turkey

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: John I Tzimiskes)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	patricius Nikolas	Aras, , Ibn al-Zayyat
Forces:		4,000
Losses:	minimal	heavy

Background story:

In 969 Michael Bourtzes took back Antioch for the Byzantines. As a result the Byzantines soon took control of Cilicia and Upper Mesopotamia, as well as the coastal strip of Syria between the Mediterranean Sea and the Orontes River.
The Arab general Jafar ibn Fallah who had just captured Damascus for the Fatimids sent an army under Futuh to expel the Byzantines from Antioch.
The new emperor Ioannes Tzimiskes was unable to intervene in person in the east and he sent to Antioch a small force under a trusted eunuch of his household, the patrikios Nicholas to relieve the siege.

The Battle:

Ruins of Antioch walls

The siege of Antioch continued for five months over winter and into spring, without result. When the Byzantine reinforcements reached the area, a Fatimid detachment consisting of 4,000 men, under a Berber chieftain called Aras and the former emir of Tarsus, Ibn al-Zayyat, moved north against Alexandretta, where the Byzantine relief army had camped.
Informed of their approach, the Byzantine commander vacated the camp and placed his troops in ambush. Finding the enemy camp deserted, the Fatimid troops began to plunder it, heedless of anything else. At that moment, Nicholas launched a surprise attack from all sides and the Fatimid force was annihilated; most of the Muslim army perished, but Aras with Ibn al-Zayyat managed to escape.

Aftermath:

It seemed like a small victory but it led to the immediate end of the siege of Antioch.
It was a big blow to the morale of the Fatimids. Ibn Fallah ordered Futuh to lift the siege of Antioch in early July 971 and return to Damascus. The defeat contributed to the weakening of the control of the Fatimids in the area.
Antioch was saved and became a base for Tsimiski's future campaigns in Syria.