Al-Mu'tadid's siege of Amid

In Rabi' al-Akhir 286 AH the caliph al-Mu'tadid bi-Llah reached the city of Amid at the far edge of the Jazira. He encamped his army before it, laid siege and set up mangonels. Its ruler sent to ask for safe conduct, al-Mu'tadid granted it, went out to him and bestowed a robe of honour on him. The caliph remained there for the rest of Jumada I and twenty days of Jumada II, then departed and ordered its walls demolished. Part of them was pulled down, but he could not demolish the rest because of their solidity. Abu al-Abbas Abd Allah ibn al-Mu'tazz congratulated him on the conquest in verse.

Before that he had sent Shu'la ibn Shihab, head of the intelligence service (sahib al-khabar), to Amid to warn its people and urge them to seek safe conduct, which was among the causes of the surrender. This campaign was one link in al-Mu'tadid's campaigns to recover the Jazira from rebels who had refused obedience and from the Kharijites, who had grown powerful there since the days of the Zanj movement.

Source: Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, vol. 6, year 286, pp. 307-309.