At the beginning of 616 AH, al-Muʿaẓẓam ordered the mighty walls of Jerusalem to be dismantled, fearing that the Franks might seize the city. Its inhabitants scattered in every direction, even though at that moment Jerusalem was as strongly fortified and as flourishing as it had ever been. He acted thus because he had gone to aid his brother at Damietta and had heard that the Franks were making for the Holy City. With him were his brother al-Malik al-ʿAzīz and ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak, the lord of Sarkhad. They set about tearing the defences down; the townspeople were dispersed, stumbled about and looted, and a raṭl (roughly a pound) of copper sold for half a dirham, while ten raṭls of oil went for a single dirham and the like.
Ibn al-Athīr said (1): When the Franks captured the Tower of the Chain, al-Kāmil built a great bridge over the Nile, and the fighting grew so intense that the Franks succeeded in cutting it. Al-Kāmil therefore took several boats, filled them with stones and sank them in the river to block any vessel from passing. The Franks dug a canal, diverted the water and brought their ships through it until they entered a backwater, drew level with al-Kāmil and fought him repeatedly on the water. Nothing changed for the people of Damietta, however, because supplies kept reaching them.
When al-ʿĀdil died, a group (2) set about proclaiming al-Fāʾiz ruler of Egypt. Al-Kāmil moved quickly, but by morning the army was in confusion, unable to find him. The Franks pressed hard against Damietta and captured its landward quarter without effort. Had it not been for Allah’s favour and the arrival of al-Muʿaẓẓam two days later, Egypt would have been lost. Al-Kāmil rejoiced at his coming, and they dispatched ʿImād al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn al-Mashṭūb—who had been promoting al-Fāʾiz—to Syria.
The Frankish siege of Damietta dragged on. Its inhabitants showed remarkable patience; many were killed, their numbers dwindled and they went hungry, until at length they surrendered the city under a guarantee of safety (3). The enemy strengthened its fortifications, and the Muslims faced a grave predicament; the people of Egypt even considered abandoning the country. Damietta fell in Shaʿbān 616 AH, and al-Kāmil remained on the frontier until 618 AH (4), while al-Ashraf advanced to reinforce him