The Yarmouk River
The river springs from the location of Mzeireeb west of Der''a. It runs in the yarmouk valley for about 75 km. that forms part of the northern borders between Jordan and Syria. The Yarmouk River meets River Jordan slightly south to the lake of Tiberia. Here you can see the lands of the village of Saham Al Kfarat, overlooking the central location where Yarmouk Battle took place. The battle ground include Khalid''s Hill, named after Khalid Bin Al Waleed, who was leading the Muslim army, and the slopes of the Golan Plateau (Al Wakowsa) where the Byzantines descend to the river bed.
The Battle
The Muslim army, numbered only about one third of the Byzantine army (40 thousand Muslims to 125 thousand Byzantines). The battle started on 12/8/636 A.D. (6 Rajab 15 Hijri), but only during the last five days from 13-19/8/636 A.D., the heavy fighting of the decisive. The Byzantines descend into the river bed followed by the Muslim army, and the fighting spread along the Yarmouk River all the way from north of Mukheibeh, to Wadi Qwaylbeh (Abila). The battle ended by the Muslim fighters chasing the Byzantines in the many ravines and valleys in the immediate vicinity. The leader of the Muslim army, Khalid Bin Al Waleed, chased one of the main leaders of the Byzantines (Mahan) and killed him. As for their other leader, Hercules, he managed to escape to Antioch, saying his famous sentence "Farewell to Syria, for the last time". In this battle, about 80 thousand fighters from the Byzantines were killed, compared to only around 4 thousand Muslims fighters. Yarmouk was a decisive battle in the Islamic history. The Arab historian, Al Tabari, stated "There was never a battle as that of Yarmouk".
|