Jund al-'Awasim

Thughur and Awasim
Ath-thughūr wa-l-ʿawāṣim (Arabic: اَلـثُّـغُـوْر وَالْـعَـوَاصِـم‎)
Cilicia, northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia
Type	Fortified border zone
Site information
Controlled by	Abbasid Caliphate (750s–ca. 930), Ikhshidids (ca. 935–940s), Hamdanids (940s–960s), Mamluks of Egypt (14th century–1516)
Site history
Built	8th century
Built by	Abbasid Caliphate, Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt
In use	ca. 750s–ca. 960s, 14th century–1514
Garrison information
Garrison	25,000 in ca. 780

Al-ʿAwāṣim (Arabic: اَلْـعَـوَاصِـم‎, The "defences, fortifications"; singular: al-ʿāṣimah (Arabic: اَلْـعَـاصِـمَـة‎, "protectress")) was the Muslim side of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in Cilicia, northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests ended, and lasted until the mid-10th century, when it was overrun by the Byzantine advance. It comprised the forward marches, comprising a chain of fortified strongholds, known as Ath-Thughūr (Arabic: اَلـثُّـغُـوْر‎; sing. Ath-Thagr (Arabic: اَلـثَّـغْـر‎, the "cleft" or "opening")), and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, which was known as Al-ʿAwāṣim proper. On the Byzantine side, the Muslim marches were mirrored by the institution of the kleisourai districts and the akritai border guards.

The term thughūr was also used in the marches of Al-Andalus and Mawara al-Nahr, and survived in historical parlance, to be revived by the Egyptian Mamluks in the 14th century, when the areas traditionally comprising the ʿawāṣim and thughūr in northern Syria and the northern Euphrates region came under their control.

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Wikipedia