Syria at the commencement of Baybars's rule

Upon his accession to the Sultanate, Baybars was confronted with a deteriorating situation in Syria. Qutuz's governor in Damascus, Sanjar al-Ḥalabī, refused to accept the new order, rebelled and declared himself sultan of Syria. To the north, the senior amirs of Aleppo had quickly become disenchanted with Qutuz's appointee as governor, overthrown him and elected as ruler one of their own, whose loyalty to the sultan in Cairo was uncertain. As for the Mongols, just a few months after their defeat at ʿAyn Jālūt, they dispatched a large raiding party into northern Syria to reconnoiter and generally cause trouble. The Franks on the coast did not sit still, but also took advantage of the general disarray and launched an attack in early 1261. In addition, there existed several independent, and not necessarily friendly, political entities in Syria: the Ismāʿīlīs, the “emirate” of Ṣahyūn, and al-Mughīth ʿUmar's principality at Karak.