Futuhusham_-_The_Islamic_Conquest_of_Syria_-_Al_Waqidi

Part 2: lfjm§.
On the other hand, the Ba'Iabakkis were -spread out on the city walls, wailing in
anguish in Greek. AbU 'Ubaydah ~asked one of the translators, "What are they
saying?"
"0 commander," replied the translator, "They are saying, 'Woe unto us! How great
is our affliction. 0 ruin of our homes! 0 death of our men! The 'Arabs have
conquered our lands.'"
37) The Romans seek a way out
That evening AbU 'Ubaydah ~ sent a messenger to Sa'Id bin Zayd ~ with this
message, "0 Ibn Zayd, may Allah have mercy upon you. Be very careful with the
Muslims with you. Make a special effort to see that not a single Roman escapes you.
Do not give them the space of even one foot for a single one to escape for then their
last man will also escape like the first man. You will then be like a man who had
something in his hand and then destroyed it himself."
When the message reached Sa'id ~ he ordered his men to besiege them from all
sides and permitted only 100 armed men to gather firewood, They obeyed, lit fires
and spent the night circling the building reciting, "La ilaha illallah" and "Allahu
Akbar!"
Upon seeing this the governor said to his men, "Woe unto you! We have lost hope of
any plan and our thinking was flawed. We have neither help nor reinforcements nor
allies. Even if we make any great effort the 'Arabs will effortlessly keep us trapped
here in this building. We have in fact trapped ourselves in this prison where there is
neither food nor drink. If this continues for a second or third day then our strong ones
will weaken and our weak ones will die. We will be forced to surrender and then they
will kill us all. All our strategy will be void."
Patricians: 0 Sir, what should we do?
Governor : We will deceive them.