The Genoese capture and recovery of Tripoli

Ibn Khaldun, in "The Lessons" (al-Ibar), reports that Tripoli of the Maghrib was in the fifties of the eighth century AH a remote frontier town far from the capital, and that merchants from the southern lands used to visit it and learned of its weak points. ¹

Then their herald called out for war, with the men already armed, and the people were terrified. When they saw them on the walls, the people cared for nothing but saving themselves. Their leader Thabit ibn Umar escaped to al-Hilla and joined his brother in the far reaches of Ifriqiya. ¹

The Christians held the town until the Muslims took it back. The date is approximate (around 757 AH) on the basis of Ibn Khaldun's account, and the conversion is derived. A second source is needed. ¹