Siege of Jacob's Ford

Siege of Jacob's Ford
Part of the Crusades
The Ruins of the Crusader Fortress in Jacob's Ford
Date 23–30 August 1179 Location Jacob's Ford, Kingdom of Jerusalem Result Ayyubid victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Jerusalem	Ayyubid Dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem	Saladin Nur ad-Din Ortoki[1] Dolderim al-Yaruki
Strength
1,500 Crusaders[2]	300 Ayyubids
Casualties and losses
800 killed[3] 700 captured[3]	Unknown

The siege of Jacob's Ford was a victory of the Muslim Sultan Saladin over the Christian King of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV. It occurred in August 1179, when Saladin conquered and destroyed Chastelet, a new border castle built by the Knights Templar at Jacob's Ford on the upper Jordan River, a historic passage point between the Golan Heights and north Galilee. Jacob's Ford is also known by the Latin name of Vadum Lacob and in modern Hebrew as Ateret. Many scholars believe that Saladin's reconquest of the Holy Land and Jerusalem in 1187 was heralded by this earlier victory.