* 1192 – Richard the Lionheart landed on Jaffa and defeated the army of Saladin

Most of the army of Jerusalem marched north with Philip, Raymond III, and Bohemond III to attack Hama, and Saladin took the opportunity to invade the kingdom.

The inexperienced Guy led the Frankish army against Saladin's incursions into the kingdom, but neither side made any real gains, and Guy was criticized by his opponents for not striking against Saladin when he had the chance.

Saladin played a major role, commanding the right wing of the Zengid army, while a force of Kurds commanded the left, and Shirkuh stationed in the center.

In the wake of Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin faced a difficult decision ; he could move his army against the Crusaders from Egypt or wait until invited by as-Salih in Syria to come to his aid and launch a war from there.

" Saladin aimed to counter this propaganda by ending the siege, claiming he was defending Islam from the Crusaders ; his army returned to Hama to engage a Crusader force there.

All of the booty from the Ayyubid victory was accorded to the army, Saladin not keeping anything himself.

As soon as he dismissed the bulk of his troops to Egypt, Saladin led his army into the al-Nusayri range in August 1176.

On November 25, while the greater part of the Ayyubid army was absent, Saladin and his men were surprised near Ramla in the battle of Montgisard.

On May 11, 1182, Saladin along with half of the Egyptian Ayyubid army and numerous non-combatants left Cairo for Syria.

Later, in August, the Ayyubids launched a naval and ground assault to capture Beirut ; Saladin led his army in the Bekaa Valley.

According to Imad ad-Din, after Tell Khalid, Saladin took a detour northwards to Ain Tab, but he gained possession of it when his army turned towards it, allowing to quickly move backward another c. 100 km towards Aleppo.

The armies of Saladin engaged in combat with the army of King Richard at the Battle of Arsuf on September 7, 1191, at which Saladin's forces were defeated.

" Despite the Crusaders ' slaughter when they originally conquered Jerusalem in 1099, Saladin granted amnesty and free passage to all common Catholics and even to the defeated Christian army, as long as they were able to pay the aforementioned ransom ( the Greek Orthodox Christians were treated even better, because they often opposed the western Crusaders ).

The approach of the immense German army greatly concerned Saladin and the other Muslim leaders, who began to rally troops of their own to confront Barbarossa's forces.

Barbarossa's army had quickly disintegrated and took ship back to Europe after his death, leaving the English and French, who had come by sea, to fight Saladin.

In November 1177, at the head of the army of the kingdom, he helped King Baldwin defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard ; Saladin narrowly escaped.

Raymond, wracked with guilt, reconciled with Guy, who assembled the entire army of the kingdom and marched north to meet Saladin.

In late May Saladin assembled the largest army he had ever commanded, around some 30, 000 men including about 12, 000 regular cavalry.

On July 2, Saladin, who wanted to lure Guy into moving his army away from the springs at Saffuriya, personally led a siege of Raymond's fortress of Tiberias while the main Muslim army remained at Kafr Sabt.

As the mining was begun on that structure, news was received by Saladin that Guy was moving the Frank army east.

Prior to arriving at Montreal, Saladin withdrew, realizing that if he met Nur ad-Din at Shaubak, he would be refused return to Egypt because of Nur ad-Din's reluctance to consolidate such massive territorial control to Saladin.

Ibn Jubayr a famous traveler from Al-Andalus is known to have met Saladin in Cairo after the abdication of the Fatimid s.

After Nur al-Din and Saladin met at Geuk Su, the top Seljuk emir, Ikhtiyar al-Din al-Hasan, confirmed Arslan's submission, after which an agreement was drawn up.

After the treaty, Saladin and Richard sent each other many gifts as tokens of respect, but never met face to face.

The story goes that the first time Mendelssohn met Lessing, they played chess ; therefore, in Lessing's play Nathan the Wise Nathan and Saladin first meet during a game of chess.

In June 1180, Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, and Kilij Arslan II, the sultan of Iconium met on the river Sanja and there, apparently concluded an alliance.

Usama lived in semi-retirement, as he did in Hisn Kayfa, and often met with Saladin to discuss literature and warfare.

Saladin is intrigued by Barbara, who tells tales of having met Nero, and tells her she can become the new Scheherazade.

Balian met with Saladin again and the sultan agreed to lower the ransom to ten bezants for men, five for women, and one for children.

In early April, without waiting for Nasir al-Din, Saladin and Taqi al-Din commenced their advance against the coalition, marching eastward to Ras al-Ein unhindered.

The fall of Amid, in addition to territory, convinced Il-Ghazi of Mardin to enter the service of Saladin, weakening Izz al-Din's coalition.

He afterwards formed one of the circles of learned men whom Saladin gathered around him at Jerusalem.

As early as the days of Saladin, and while the Ma ' ans were still in complete control over southern Lebanon, the Shihab tribe, originally Hijaz Arabs but later settled in Ḥawran, advanced from Ḥawran, in 1172, and settled in Wadi al-Taym at the foot of mount Hermon.

Baldwin proved to be an effective and energetic king as well as being a brilliant military commander: he defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard in September 1177 despite being greatly outnumbered and having to rely on a levee-en-masse.

The kingdom had a truce with Saladin at the time, and Raynald's actions have been seen as an independent act of brigandage ; it is possible that he was trying to prevent Saladin from moving his forces north to take control of Aleppo, which would have strengthened Saladin's position.

In response, Saladin attacked the kingdom in 1182, but was defeated at Belvoir Castle.

In October 1183 Isabella married Humphrey of Toron at Kerak, during a siege by Saladin, who perhaps hoped to take some valuable prisoners.

Saladin attacked Kerak again in April, and in May, a Muslim raiding party ran into the much smaller embassy on its way to negotiate with Raymond, and defeated it at the Battle of Cresson near Nazareth.

Raymond and Guy finally agreed to attack Saladin at Tiberias, but could not agree on a plan ; Raymond thought a pitched battle should be avoided, but Guy probably remembered the criticism he faced for avoiding battle in 1183, and it was decided to march out against Saladin directly.

Richard defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191 and the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, recovering most of the coast, but could not recover Jerusalem or any of the inland territory of the kingdom.

Grand Master Gérard de Ridefort was beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the Siege of Acre.

* 1177 – Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.

His father and Philip II had done so at Gisors on 21 January 1188 after receiving news of the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin.

Saladin, at age 26, went along with them.

Muslim sources at the time, however, put Saladin in the " baggage of the center " with orders to lure the enemy into a trap by staging a false retreat.

Gumushtigin requested from Rashid ad-Din Sinan, grand-master of the Assassins of Syria, who were already at odds with Saladin since he replaced the Fatimids of Egypt, to assassinate Saladin in his camp.

A hand-to-hand fight ensued and the Zengids managed to plow Saladin's left wing, driving it before him, when Saladin himself charged at the head of the Zengid guard.

A few days later, while Saladin was resting in one of his captain's tents, an assassin rushed forward at him and struck at his head with a knife.