 After Baghdad , in 1260 the Mongols with their Christian subjects conquered Muslim Syria , domain of the Ayyubid dynasty . They took together the city of Aleppo in January , and in March , the Mongols with the Armenians and the Franks of Antioch took Damascus , under the Christian Mongol general Kitbuqa . With both the Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties destroyed , the Near East , as described by historian Steven Runciman , " was never again to dominate civilization . " The last Ayyubid sultan An @-@ Nasir Yusuf died shortly thereafter , and with the Islamic power centers of Baghdad and Damascus gone , the center of Islamic power transferred to the Egyptian Mamluks in Cairo . However , before the Mongols could continue their advance towards Egypt , they needed to withdraw because of the death of the Great Khan . Hulagu was needed back at the capital and took the bulk of his forces with him , leaving a small force under Kitbuqa to occupy Palestine during his absence . Mongol raiding parties were sent south into Palestine towards Egypt , with small Mongol garrisons of about 1 @,@ 000 established in Gaza . 
