Arab–Byzantine wars

The Arab–Byzantine wars were fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab caliphates and their successor emirates from 629 into the 11th century. In the first decades the Arabs took Syria, Egypt and North Africa and besieged Constantinople, most seriously in 717–718. The frontier then settled along the Taurus Mountains, where raiding continued until the Byzantines recovered Crete (961), Cilicia and Antioch (969) in the 10th century.