Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305)

The Kisrawan campaigns were a series of Mamluk military expeditions against the mountaineers of the Kisrawan, as well as the neighboring areas of Byblos and the Jurd, in Mount Lebanon. The offensives were launched in 1292, 1300 and 1305. The mountaineers were Shia Muslim, Alawite, Maronite and Druze tribesmen who historically acted autonomously of any central authority. The Maronites in particular had maintained close cooperation with the last Crusader state, the County of Tripoli. After the fall of Tripoli to the Mamluks in 1289, the mountaineers would often block the coastal road between Tripoli and Beirut, prompting the first Mamluk expedition in 1292 under the viceroy of Egypt, Baydara. During that campaign, the Mamluks, spread along the coastal road and cut off from each other at various points, were constantly harried by the mountaineers, who confiscated their weapons, horses and money. Baydara withdrew his men only after paying off the mountain chiefs.

The second campaign was launched in 1300 to punish the mountaineers for attacking and robbing Mamluk troops retreating along the coastal road following their rout by the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar the year before. The viceroy of Damascus, Aqqush al-Afram, defeated the Kisrawani fighters in a number of engagements, after which they conceded, handed over the weapons they had confiscated in 1292 and paid a heavy fine. Persistent rebellion by the mountaineers led Aqqush to lead a final punitive campaign against the Kisrawan in 1305, which caused mass destruction of villages and the killings and mass displacement of its inhabitants.

After the final expedition, the Mamluks settled Turkmen tribesmen in the coastal parts of the Kisrawan to keep a permanent, direct presence in the region. The Alawites fared particularly badly, and were no longer mentioned inhabiting the Kisrawan in the historical record. The Twelver Shia remained the largest confessional group, but their numbers never recovered. While the Maronites were also dealt heavy human and material losses, they were not the principal targets of the campaign. During early Ottoman rule (1516–1917), Maronites became the predominant religious group in the Kisrawan due to migration there from northern Mount Lebanon. Their settlement was patronized by the Turkmen Assaf governors of the region.

In modern Lebanese historical narratives, the Kisrawan campaigns have been a source of controversy by historians from different religious groups. Maronite, Shia and Druze historians have each sought to emphasize the roles of their respective confessional group, over each other, in defending the autonomy of the Kisrawan from Mamluk outsiders. In writings by Sunni Muslim authors, the Mamluks are portrayed as the legitimate Muslim state working to incorporate Mount Lebanon into the rest of the Islamic realm.