El-Aziz undertook a campaign against Syria, but was defeated and obliged
to retreat to Cairo on account of a mutiny among his troops. El-Afdhal
pursued him, and had already pressed forward as far as Bilbeis, when
El-Adil, who had hitherto espoused his cause, fearing that he might
become too powerful, forced him to conclude a peace. The only advantage
he obtained was that he regained possession of Jerusalem and the
southern part of Syria. Soon after, El-Adil prevailed upon his nephew
Aziz, with whom he stood on friendly terms, to renew the war and to
take Damascus; El-Afdhal was betrayed, and only Sarchod was left to him,
whereas El-Adil occupied Damascus and forced Aziz to return to Egypt
again (June, 1196). After Aziz's death, in November, 1198, El-Afdhal was
summoned by some of the emirs to act as regent in Egypt. Others called
upon El-Adil to adopt the same course. El-Afdhal, however, became master
of Egypt, and besieged Damascus, reinforced by his brother Zahir, who
feared his uncle's ambition no less than himself. The agreement between
the brothers, however, did not last long; their armies separated, and
El-Afdhal was obliged to raise the siege and retreat to Egypt. He was
pursued by his uncle, and forced, after several skirmishes, to surrender
the capital and content himself once more with Sarchod and one or two
towns on the Euphrates (February, 1200). El-Adil ruled for a short time
in the name of El-Aziz's son; he soon came forward as sultan, forced
Zahir to recognise him as his suzerain, and appointed his son El-Muzzain
as governor of Damascus; the towns which belonged to him in Mesopotamia
were distributed among his other sons, and he thus became, to a certain
extent, the overlord of all the lands conquered by Saladin. His son,
El-Ashraf, later became lord of Chelat in Armenia, and his descendant,
Masud, Kamil's son, obtained possession of happy Arabia; so that the
name Malik Adil was pronounced in all the Moslem chancels from the
borders of Georgia to the Gulf of Aden.