The Islamic conquests in the era of Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab For the lands under the control of the Byzantine Empire
Abstract
The relations between the Muslim Arab State and the Byzantine State passed through different stages. After the Muslim Arab State had liberated the lands occupied by the Byzantine ate the onset of the first of Hijra century, the struggle between the two states transmitted to the sea. Immediately after the Arabs had settled in the coasts of Syria and Eygpt, the Byzantine forces began attacking these coasts to weaken the Muslim Arab forces, a matter which made the Arabs go to sea in order to confront the attacks, and to pursue the Byzantine forces. Afterwards, the tension between the tow states was moved to the Mediterranean sea, especially to the eastern islands, because both these states knew the strategic, military and commercial importance of these islands. Whichever party could control these islands, it would be able to have the naval commercial routes under sway, in addition to have control over the security of these islands in Syria, Eygpt and Asia Minor.