All through the protracted siege of Damascus, Abul Aûr kept watch over his enemy in the Ghôr, or Valley of the Jordan, near to Fihl. This city, the ancient Pella, was situated on the eastern slope of the valley, six or seven miles below the outlet of the Lake of Tiberias. Ruins still mark the site which is 600 feet above the river bed. The gorge of the Jordan is here broad and fertile, and the stream at many places fordable. Opposite Fihl the valley of Jezreel, branching off from Esdräelon, that great battle-field of the world, issues into the Ghôr. The broad opening is guarded on one side by the mountains of Gilboa, the scene of Saul’s disaster, and on the other by the frowning eminence of Beisân, to the walls of which the Philistines fastened the body of that unfortunate monarch.[241] The mountain streams here run along the valley, rendering it when neglected sodden and swampy.[242] It was under the shadow of Beisân that the broken army of the Romans took refuge, and here fresh supports from Heraclius joined them. To secure their front, they dammed the streams, and so turned the whole vale into a marsh. At first the Arabs chafed under the stratagem, for their horses were disabled on the yielding ground. But they soon learned patience, and discovered that the enemy had shut himself out from the Ghôr, as well as from their attack. Himself securely posted, his rear open to reinforcements, supplied in plenty by the fertile vale of the Jordan, from which the Romans were cut off--Abul Aûr was content to wait till the summer heat should dry up the quagmire; and meanwhile his enemy, 80,000 strong, was held in check, if not virtually blockaded.[243] [Sidenote: Abu Obeida returns to attack Fihl. A.H. XIV. Summer, A.D. 634.[244]] The summer was well advanced before the Arabs broke up their camp at Damascus. They were eager to attack Heraclius at Hims; but Omar forbade them to advance, so long as there was an army in their rear. Leaving, therefore, Yezîd son of Abu Sofiân, with a garrison of Yemen levies, as Governor of Damascus, Abu Obeida hastened back with the rest of his army to Fihl. The province of the Jordan had been given by Omar in command to Shorahbîl, and to him therefore Abu Obeida now committed the chief conduct of the campaign which lay within his jurisdiction. Khâlid led the van; Abu Obeida himself commanded one of the wings, and Amru the other; the famous warrior Dhirâr directed the cavalry, and Iyâdh the foot.[245] Retracing their steps, they took the highway to Palestine, and, recrossing the Yermûk near where it falls into the Jordan by the hot springs of Omm Keis (or Gadara), marched down the valley of the Ghôr, and encamped under Fihl. Abul Aûr, who had held the enemy in check for so long a time, was now detached on a similar duty towards Tiberias, to prevent diversion from that quarter. The main army, taking his place, sat before Beisân, and continued patiently its blockade. [Sidenote: Battle of Fihl.]