Emir of Ajlun and Kawkab

In 1183, he was ordered by Saladin to move the Rabbadh Fortress

Ajlun Castle

Ajloun Castle ; transliterated: Qal'at Ajloun; transliterated: is an Ayyubid castle that stands atop Jabal Auf, near Ajloun, in northern Jordan. -History :...

 at Ajlun in northern Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 (known as al-Urdunn at the time) with the purpose of protecting Ayyubid holdings in area and threatening the Crusader

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

 forces based in Kerak

Kerak

Kerak Castle is a large crusader castle located in Kerak in Jordan. It is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant.Construction of the castle began in the 1140s, under Pagan, the butler of Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is frequently...

 to the south. Both the Rabbadh Fortress and the Crusader-built Belvoir Castle

Belvoir Castle

Belvoir Castle is a stately home in the English county of Leicestershire, overlooking the Vale of Belvoir . It is a Grade I listed building....

 in Kawkab al-Hawa

Kawkab al-Hawa

Kawkab al-Hawa is a depopulated former Palestinian village located11 km north of Baysan. Kawkab al-Hawa contained the Crusader fortress of Belvoir. The Crusader names for the Frankish settlement at Kuwaykat were Beauvoir, Belvoir, Bellum videre, Coquet, Cuschet and Coket...

, west of the Jordan River in the southern Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

, were granted by Saladin to Izz al-Din in the late 1180s as iqta'a or "fiefs". They served as strategic fortifications commanding the Jordan Valley

Jordan Valley (Middle East)

The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. It is 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, where it runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It runs for an additional 155 kilometer south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba, an area also known as Wadi...

.

After the death of Saladin in 1193, his son al-Afdal

Al-Afdal

Al-Afdal is an Arabic name which means "Most Superior". It may refer to:* Al-Afdal Shahanshah, ,* Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din , an Arabic ruler and eldest son of Saladin who inherited Damascus...

 succeeded him in control of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, but was seen by the local governors as abdicating his responsibilities of kingship for its favors. Rivalry grew between him and his brother, al-Aziz Uthman

Al-Aziz Uthman

Al-Malik Al-Aziz Osman bin Salahadin Yusuf was the second Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt. He was the second son of Saladin.Before his death, Saladin had divided his dominions amongst his kin: Al-Afdal received Palestine and Syria, Al-Aziz was made ruler of Egypt, Al-Zahir received Aleppo, Al-Adil...

 of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. In 1194, Izz al-Din became the first local governor to defect from al-Afdal and left for Egypt in order to convince al-Aziz Uthman to launch a conquest against Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

. Five years later, in 1199, Izz al-Din secretly joined in a conspiracy to depose al-Afdal in favor of Saladin's brother al-Adil. When al-Adil's forces besieged Damascus that year, Izz al-Din attempted to negotiate with al-Afdal's ally and brother based in Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, az-Zahir Ghazi, to surrender Damascus to al-Adil.

In 1202, when al-Adil achieved an unbreakable grip of the Ayyubid empire, Izz al-Din was allowed to remain in control of Ajlun and Kawkab al-Hawa. However, in 1212, while Izz al-Din was in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 with his mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

s, simultaneously al-Adil and his two sons, al-Kamil

Al-Kamil

Al-Kamil was a Kurdish Ayyubid sultan who ruled North Africa. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated two crusades. In a temporary agreement with the Crusaders, he ceded Jerusalem to the Christians.-Biography:He was the son of sultan al-Adil, a brother of Saladin...

 and al-Mu'azzam

Al-Mu'azzam

Al-Mu'azzam 'Isa Sharaf ad-Din was an Ayyubid Sultan who ruled Damascus from 1218 to 1227. The son of Sultan Al-Adil I and nephew of Saladin, founder of the dynasty, Al-Mu'azzam was installed by his father as governor of Damascus in 1201. After his father's death in 1218, Al-Mu'azzam ruled the...

 were in Damietta

Damietta

Damietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...

 in the Nile Delta

Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...

. Somehow, al-Adil suspected that Izz al-Din was colluding with az-Zahir Ghazi, and when Izz al-Din departed Egypt for Ajlun, al-Adil told al-Mu'azzam if he could capture him he would be given Izz al-Din's fortresses. Al-Mu'azzam began a pursuit to seize him and his forces managed to halt Izz al-Din at the approaches of Jerusalem. Al-Mu'azzam promised Izz al-Din if he were to voluntarily surrender his fortresses he could retain his life and all of his other properties, but Izz al-Din refused—insisting on trading his iqta'a in Jordan for al-Fayyum in Egypt—and was immediately imprisoned in Kerak

Kerak

Kerak Castle is a large crusader castle located in Kerak in Jordan. It is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant.Construction of the castle began in the 1140s, under Pagan, the butler of Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is frequently...

.