After the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Fatimids, vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah mounted a series of invasions "almost annually" from 1099 to 1107 against the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In the Battle of Yibneh (Yibna) in 1123, a Crusader force led by Eustace Grenier crushed a Fatimid army from Egypt sent by Vizier Al-Ma'mun between Ascalon and Jaffa.