This victory, however, provoked a brutal retaliatory campaign by Timur, which devastated Georgia and the surrounding regions in the following years.

Since 1386, Timur had launched multiple invasions, devastating Georgia's cities, killing civilians, and forcing George VII into submission at various points.

During a brief lull in the siege, Tahir, the son of Ahmad Jalayir, ruler of the Jalayirid Sultanate,[2] arrived to strengthen the defenses of the fortress.

[4] That same year, Miran Shah’s forces constructed a wall around Alinja, effectively severing all communication between the fortress and the outside world.

The Georgian army cut it way through the besiegers temporarily freeing the Jalayirid Prince Tahir and some of those inside the castle, while the Timurid general Seif ad-Din fled.