Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri (c. 1441 – 24 August 1516) was the penultimate Mamluk Sultan of the Burji dynasty.
Sometime during 1511, al-Ghawri met with the Ottoman prince Korkut, though the meeting between the pair was covertly monitored by Ottoman Assassins sent by the Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze. [citation needed]
In 1511 or 1512, al-Ghawri entered into an alliance with the Safavid dynasty of Persia in the midst of a war with the Ottoman Empire. When an Ottoman blockade of Damascus withdrew thanks to the intervention of the Assassins, al-Ghawri's Mamluks allowed Persian forces to move in to fill the vacuum. In the meantime, he plotted with the Safavids to stage a joint attack on the major Ottoman city of Bursa, and he personally hosted the Safavid high command in Damascus.
Lack of conflict between the Mamluks and Safavids around Damascus alerted the Assassins to their alliance, however, and as a result, they sent their spies into the Safavid camp, learning of their plans to assault Bursa. Hoping to prevent this, they assassinated the Safavid generals in Damascus, disrupting their military operations.
Five years later, Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri took part in the battle of Marj Dabiq, north of Aleppo, where he was ultimately defeated by Selim I's forces and beheaded.