In 1219 Sultan al-Mu'azzam secretly had the defences of Toron as well as those of Jerusalem and the castles of Safed and Banyas dismantled. This was done because the Sultan foresaw the necessity of exchanging them for the more crucial defences at Damietta on the Nile Delta, which had been captured by the forces of the Fifth Crusade who were now threatening Cairo. Additionally, al-Mu'azzam was not prepared to give strong defendable cities to the Crusaders if he could avoid it. Although the exchange proved unnecessary, the geographical position of the sites remained important for the Crusaders who were interested in recovering Jerusalem from Muslim control.