Event Muslim conquest of Sicily

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Was the invasion of the Byzantine-held island of Sicily by the Aghlabid emirate of Ifriqiya.

Chronology

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  • June 828: The Castle of Mineo surrendered to the Aghlabids after three days of fight.
  • April 864: In February/March 864, with the aid of a Byzantine renegade, the Muslims captured Noto and Scicli.
  • October 831: In 831, Palermo fell to the Aghlabids.
  • January 858: Abbas ibn al-Fadl, a prominent military leader of the Aghlabid dynasty, successfully captured Cefalù in 857.
  • May 965: Rometta was last Byzantine city of Sicily to fall in arab hands.
  • January 859: Then, in January 859, the Muslims scored a major success through the capture, with the aid of a Byzantine prisoner, of the hitherto impregnable Enna. Its fall, followed by its comprehensive sacking and the slaughter of its defenders on 24 January.
  • January 829: The Muslim army, led by the Emir of Sicily, Asad ibn al-Furat, successfully captured Agrigento.
  • January 843: In 842, Messina fell to the Aghlabids, a dynasty of the Islamic Caliphate. Enna also fell in 859, further expanding the Aghlabid territory in Sicily.
  • November 827: Even so, Byzantine resistance in Sicily was fierce and not without success whilst the Arabs became quickly plagued by the cancer of the Caliphate- internal squabbles. That year, the Arabs were expelled from Sicily but they were to return.
  • January 847: Al-Fadl ibn Ja'far, a prominent military commander of the Aghlabid dynasty, captured Leontini.
  • May 878: The fall of the city of Syracuse in 878 was a significant event during the Arab-Byzantine wars. The city was captured by the Aghlabids, a dynasty of the Islamic Caliphate, led by Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya. Syracuse was an important Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, and its fall marked a major victory for the Aghlabids in their conquest of the island.
  • August 870: In 870 Muhammad sent a fleet from Sicily to the island, and the capital Melite fell.
  • January 846: The fortress of Modica fell to the Aghlabids.
  • January 837: The Muslim fleet, under al-Fadl ibn Yaqub, raided the Aeolian Islands and seized a number of forts on the northern coast of Sicily, most notably Tyndaris.
  • August 902: Taormina with the rest of Sicily conquered by Aghlabids.
  • January 860: The fall of Enna reduced the Byzantines to the eastern coastal strip between Syracuse and Taormina.
  • January 832: The western third of Sicily (Val di Mazara) fell relatively quickly into Muslim hands.
  • December 829: The Arab garrison of Agrigento abandoned the city and retreated to Mazara.
  • June 827: The allied fleets sailed from the Bay of Sousse, and after three days they reached Mazara in southwestern Sicily, where they landed.