Why the Mongol Empire failed to conquer Syria despite repeated, massive military invasions

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The Mongols believed the eternal sky destined them to rule the world, yet their repeated attempts to seize Syria were consistently thwarted. While they occasionally captured Damascus and Aleppo, they never held the region. The secret to their failure lay in a strategic trap set by their rivals, the Mamluks.

Between the 1240s and 1313, the Mongol Ilkhanate launched multiple invasions of Syria, driven by the imperial mandate to expand their dominion. Despite early successes—such as the 1260 capture of Damascus and Aleppo—the Mongols were never able to permanently annex the Levant. Their military campaigns were frequently interrupted by internal Mongol civil wars, specifically the long-standing conflict between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde. Because the Golden Horde and the Mamluks maintained a strategic alliance, the Il-khans were forced to split their forces, often recalling troops from Syria to defend their northern borders against their own kin.

The Mamluks also mastered the art of asymmetric warfare. Recognizing the Mongol cavalry's dependence on vast grazing lands, the Mamluks burned pastures to starve the invaders' horses, effectively limiting the speed and reach of the Mongol advance. Furthermore, the Mamluks exploited the Ilkhanate's religious and political instability. While the Il-khans initially sought alliances with Christian Europe and the Byzantine Empire, the Mamluks leveraged their own cultural and linguistic ties to the Golden Horde to maintain a united front against the Ilkhanate. The Mamluks were also adept at waiting out the Mongols, who frequently retreated due to leadership deaths, succession crises, or the need to address threats from the Chagatai Mongols in the east.

The stalemate only ended when the Ilkhanate began to shift its identity. As the Il-khans converted to Islam—a process culminating in the reign of Ghazan—the ideological divide between the two powers narrowed. This religious alignment, combined with the exhaustion of repeated, failed campaigns like the 1312 siege of Rahbat, finally paved the way for diplomacy. In 1322 or 1323, a formal peace treaty was ratified between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Ilkhanate, marking the end of decades of conflict. By the time the treaty was signed, the Ilkhanate was already beginning to disintegrate, eventually disappearing entirely during the 14th century.

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