"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٦‎٧] (٧٣٨/١٣٨)

THE ARAB CONQUEST
127
After this battle Heraclius abandoned Syria. Probably his
resources were exhausted by the Persian war so that he could
not do otherwise. The fate of the country therefore depended
upon the attitude of its own population. Jews, Samaritans,
and Christians all welcomed the Arabs as their deliverers
from the persecution and oppression of the ‘ orthodox ’
Greeks. Naturally the Arab tribes of the eastern frontier
were ready to throw in their lot with the new comers.
Not a single Syrian town was captured by force of arms.
Sooner or later they all accepted the generous terms of the
Arab chiefs. Jerusalem and Caesarea were strongholds of
Greek sentiment and power. They submitted in the years
639 and 640 respectively. Since the Greeks held command
of the sea the towns on the coast were specially secure. Gaza
and Ascalon did not submit to the Arabs until after the
surrender of Caesarea. Tripoli was the last of the Greek
possessions on the mainland. In 645 a large part of the
population abandoned the city in ships and the gates were
opened to the Moslems. Antaradus, on an island off the
coast, was reduced in 648-9.
Two of the causes of the triumph of the Arab invaders
of the seventh century have already^ been sufficiently
emphasized, namely the weakness of the Byzantine empire
and the preference of the Syrian population for Arab rule.
The question of the military power and efficiency of the
invaders is not so easily determined. Individually they were
brave and practised combatants with sword and bow. Their
leaders were experienced in the art of minor warfare and
evidently were skilful enough to adapt the tactics and strategy
of the desert to the greater tasks which now confronted them.
Without such qualifications of leadership and fighting capacity
the Arab victories could not have been won. On the other
hand the invaders were severely tested only during the battle
of the Yarmuk, and it may be that defects in the opposing
army and the accident of a sand-storm turned the scale in
their favour. Other alleged causes of their triumph, if
allowed at all, must be strictly qualified. It has been suggested