The next year the Crusaders under Roger of Salerno were severely defeated at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis, and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem was captured while patrolling in Edessa in 1123.

Later, al-Bursuqi (who had received troops also by Toghtekin of Damascus) besieged the town of Azaz, to the north of Aleppo, in territory belonging to the County of Edessa.

[citation needed] Al-Bursuqi retired to Aleppo, leaving his son Masud as governor and crossed the Euphrates to Mosul, where he gathered troops to renew the fight.

[4] Apart from relieving Azaz, this victory allowed the Crusaders to regain much of the influence they had lost after their defeat at Ager Sanguinis in 1119.

Aleppo and Mosul were united under the much stronger ruler Zengi in 1128, and Crusader control of northern Syria began to weaken.