The Battle of Pel was fought in 1202 BC when the Syrian warlord Irsu of Retjenu attacked the Canaanite town of Pel (Petra, Jordan), resulting in a great slaughter of both Syrians and Jebusites.
Starting in 1205 BC, the Canaanite raider Irsu rapidly built a powerful Levantine empire, expanding out of his eastern Syrian heartland and conquering Syria from Damascus, Sakka, and Emar and northern Jordan and the northern West Bank from Shechem. Eager to extend his empire's inland holdings in preparation for a drive to the sea, Irsu decided to declare war on King Tanni of Urushalim, whose sizeable kingdom included both Urushalim (Jerusalem) and Pel (Petra, Jordan). Irsu first marched against Pel, where Tanni's large army was encamped. Unwilling to risk a high-casualty assault on Pel, Irsu contented himself with besieging it. Tanni, confident in his numbers, decided to lead a sortie, resulting in a desert battle. The battle was a confused slaughter, marked by the clever maneuvering of Irsu's Syrian warriors from one hacking match to another. Both Retjenu wings suffered heavy losses against the Jebusites, resulting in the annihilation of several troupes of Habiru axemen and archers, but Irsu's forces were able to chase off their attackers. Irsu followed up on this victory by leading his 534 remaining warriors in a final assault on the 472 remaining defenders of Pel, winning another close-fought victory. Only 262 of Irsu's original 1,447 troops survived the taking of Pel, forcing him to rebuild his army from near-scratch before he could march on Urushalim.
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