Conquest of The Islands of Mediterranean Sea
Further information: History of Islam in southern ItalyDuring Umar's reign, the governor of Syria, Muawiyah I, sent a request to build a naval force to invade the islands in the Mediterranean Sea but Umar rejected the proposal because of risk of death of soldiers at sea. During his reign Uthman gave Muawiyah permission to build a navy after concerning the matter closely. The Muslim force landed on Cyprus in 649. There was only a small Byzantine garrison on the island, which was overpowered without any difficulty. The islanders submitted to the Muslims, and agreed to pay a tribute of 7,000 dinars per year. The conquest of Cyprus was the first naval conquest of the Muslims. After Cyprus Muslim naval fleet headed towards the island of Crete and then Rhodes and conquered them without much resistance. In 652-654, the Muslims launched a naval campaign against Sicily and they succeeded in capturing a large part of the island. Soon after this Uthman was murdered, no further expansion was made, and the Muslims accordingly retreated from Sicily. In 655 Byzantine emperor Constans II led a fleet in person to attack the Muslims at Phoinike (off Lycia) but it was defeated: 500 Byzantine ships were destroyed in the battle, and the emperor himself risked being killed.
Read more about this topic: Military Campaigns Under Caliph Uthman
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