al-Manṣūr Ibrāhīm ibn Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh, the ruler of Homs, won him to his side and in so doing strengthened the hand of the governor of Damascus, Muʿin al-Dīn Ḥasan ibn al-Shaykh. Yet Muʿin al-Dīn died in Ramadan of that same year, as will be mentioned in the necrology. ⦗1⦘

When al-Manṣūr, lord of Homs, withdrew his allegiance from al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, he began gathering forces from Aleppo, the Turkmen, and the Bedouins to rescue Damascus from the Khwarazmians and their siege. The Khwarazmians heard of this, feared its consequences, and said, “Damascus must not slip away from us; the prudent course is to fight him near his own territory.” They therefore marched toward Lake Homs.

Al-Nāṣir Dāwūd sent his army to al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl alongside the Khwarazmians, while the Damascene host moved out and joined the lord of Homs. The two armies met the Khwarazmians by Lake Homs, and it was a day long remembered: ⦗2⦘ most of the Khwarazmians were killed, their king Barakāt Khān was slain, and his head was carried aloft on a spear. Their ranks were broken and scattered in all directions. ⦗3⦘

Al-Manṣūr, lord of Homs, then advanced on Baalbek, which al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb took over. He next came to Damascus and camped in Būstān Sāma in service to al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb, but the notion of seizing the city tempted him. Just then he fell ill and died—may Allah have mercy on him—the following year, and his body was transported to Homs. Thus his reign after his father’s death lasted ten years. ⦗4⦘ ⦗5⦘ His son al-Malik al-Ashraf succeeded him for two years, after which the city was taken from him, as will be related.

The deputies of al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb assumed control of Baalbek and Busra, and al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl was left without a single town to shelter him, without family, offspring, or wealth. In fact, all his property ⦗6⦘ was confiscated ⦗7⦘ and his household was taken under guard to Egypt. He himself sought asylum with King al-Nāṣir ibn al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Ẓāhir Ghāzī, ruler of Aleppo, who sheltered, honored, and respected him. The atabeg Luʾluʾ of Aleppo said to his young master al-Nāṣir, “Consider the outcome of tyranny.”

As for the Khwarazmians, they went to the region of al-Karak, where its lord al-Nāṣir Dāwūd treated them generously, was kind to them, married into them, and settled them in al-Salt, whence they also seized Nablus. Al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb dispatched an army against them under Fakhr al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh ⦗8⦘; he routed them at al-Salt and drove them from those lands, then besieged al-Nāṣir in al-Karak and subjected him to the utmost humiliation.

Al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb returned from Egypt and entered Damascus in great splendor. He dealt kindly with its people and gave charity to the poor and destitute. He then marched on Baalbek, Busra, and Salkhad, taking possession of the latter from its lord ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak.