Conquest of Laziqiyyah
The Conquest of Laziqiyyah: after this the Muslim army made way to Laziqiyyah, which was a city of Syria situated on the coast, in the environs of Homs. Nonetheless, they besieged Laziqiyyah. The city had strong fortifications for its defence. The people of the city had ample stores of grain, as a result of which they were not concerned by the siege. Hazrat Abu Ubaidah (ra) came up with a new strategy for conquering the city. In the night, he ordered for large trenches to be dug and to be filled with grass. In the morning he lifted the siege and made preparations to head back to Homs.
Having dug the trenches and filled them with grass, they made it seem as if they were lifting the siege and heading back. Upon seeing the siege was lifted, the people of the city and the army rejoiced and opened the gate to the city. Hazrat Abu Ubaidah (ra), however, returned with his army in the night and hid in the tunnels and trenches they had dug. In the morning when the gate of the city opened, they launched an attack all of a sudden and conquered the city.
(Sheikh Shah Moinuddin Ahmad Nadvi, Siyar al-Sahabah, Vol. 2 [Karachi, Pakistan: Dar al-Isha‘ah Urdu Bazar] 128.) (Asharah Mubasharah, Bashir Sajid, p. 809, al-Badr Publications Urdu Bazar, Lahore, 2000) (Yaqut Ibn Abd-Allah al-Hamawi, Mu‘jam al-Buldan, Vol. 5 [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah] p. 6)