An-Naasir Yoosuf was camping along with his army outside Damascus when he received the bad news of the fall of Mayyafariqin and the killing of Al-Kaamil Muhammad Al-Ayyoobi in the horrific way we have previously mentioned; then the fall and desecration of Aleppo; then the fall of Harim fortress; and the surrender of Hama and Hims without fighting. This means that the next step of the Tatars would assuredly be Damascus!

What should the coward, King An-Naasir Yoosuf, do, who declared war which he had no power to fight, due to not only the force of the Tatars, but also his severe weakness?
An-Naasir Yoosuf held an important meeting for the advisory board including his army leaders.
What should we do?
A hero in the swamp of humiliation!

The board included most army commanders, on the top of whom was Zayn Ad-Deen Al-Haafithi. It also included Rukn Ad-Deen Baybars, a Mamluk emir who had previously fled from Egypt in the wake of an affliction that broke up between the Mamluks, and was received by An-Naasir Yoosuf and joined to his commanders, due to his high military competence and leadership skills.

The meeting started, with the traces of terror and fright being visible on An-Naasir Yoosuf, from whom they were transmitted to most of his army commanders.
It seemed evident too that An-Naasir Yoosuf was not inclined to war, nor did he have power to face the Tatars; and so did his army commanders. Most attendees seemed slack, and started highlighting the great chasm between them and the Tatars. When the floor was given to Zayn Ad-Deen Al-Haafithi, he went on making much of the Tatars, and little of the Muslims, advising An-Naasir Yoosuf not to fight.

http://300035.dotdothktrade.tech/en/artical/20818/situation-damascus