Muslim Conquest of Egypt
(see Muslim conquest of Egypt)
In 634, the Muslim leader Umar ascended to the role of caliph and inherited a heterogeneous and rapidly expanding Islamic empire. Throughout the early 640s, he set his sights on the economically desirable province of Egypt and its capital city of Alexandria. The Muslim invasion of Egypt was led by the commander Amr ibn Al-Asi, who commanded a force larger than any army the Byzantines could field at the time, resulting from their crushing defeat at Yarmuk four years earlier.
The original attempts of the Arab forces were not directed solely towards Alexandria but rather at removing the Byzantine fortress of Babylon on the Nile Delta. The destruction of the Byzantine military power at the ensuing battle of Heliopolis, also known as Ain Shams, in the summer of 640 and the victory over the Byzantine defenders at Babylon effectively broke Byzantine power in Egypt.
Read more about this topic: Siege Of Alexandria (641)
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