Since I am new here, I will try to keep this fairly simple. Despite all the research I have done in secondary and primary sources, I find that the overwhelming amount of things I have read regarding Basil II's military campaigns, deal with his conquest of Bulgaria for which he is most famous. But things are thin on the ground when it comes to his dealings with the Fatimids, in particular his expedition from Armenia in 999 where he besieged Emesa and spent three months in Syria, before heading back to Constantinople. I remember reading a contemporary quote wherein the inhabitants of Emesa fled to the nearby Monastery of Constantine and the Russians (Varangian mercenaries from the 989 debacle most likely) set fire to it and looted it of lead and copper. I can't remember for the life of me where I read this quote. Furthermore, what do you suppose the local attitudes would have been at this time? Were the average Syrians grateful for the Byzantine "peace keeping" or as was often the case, did they just get their farms and goods trampled underfoot by soldiers unconcerned by what their allegiances were? It is difficult enough to gauge the political temperature in this part of the world now, how much more so a millennium ago! Would Byzantines living in Syria in the time, been at all likely to be victims retaliation and violence at the hands of angry Fatimid? If anyone has any wisdom to impart or point out things I am missing, I would be very grateful.