By the middle of the 10th century, the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate and the strengthening of Byzantium under the Macedonian dynasty allowed the Byzantines to gradually take the offensive.

Under the soldier-emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (r. 963–969), with the help of the general and future emperor John I Tzimiskes, the Byzantines overcame the resistance of Sayf al-Dawla, who had taken control of the former Abbasid borderlands in northern Syria, and launched a series of aggressive campaigns that in 964–965 recaptured Cilicia.

The successful conquest opened the way for the recovery of Cyprus and Antioch over the next few years, and the eclipse of the Hamdanids as an independent power in the region.

After al-Dawla confirmed his rule in Aleppo in 944, he continued the Arab practice of raiding into Byzantine territory, formally resuming war in 945/46.

Despite the frequency and effectiveness of his raids in disrupting Byzantine commerce and generally creating chaos on Byzantium's eastern front, al-Dawla's tactics were defensive in nature, and his armies never posed a serious threat to Byzantine domination of Anatolia; contemporary Arab sources claim (indeed perhaps exaggerate) that Byzantium's armies probably outnumbered al-Dawla's by around 70,000.

In 950 al-Dawla attempted to raid into Byzantine territory, and was crushed by Leo Phokas, losing 8,000 men in the "dreadful expedition".

[1][4] Later the same year al-Dawla again attempted to raid Byzantine territory, rejecting their offers of peace, but was soon forced to retire by the coming of winter.

The next year Bardas Phokas launched a failed expedition into Cilicia in an attempt to prevent the Arabs from repairing some strategic fortresses.

In 958, Tzimiskes invaded Arab territory once again, seizing Dara and defeating an army of 10,000 men under al-Dawla's lieutenant Nadja.

[6] This call for holy war, and the attendant marshaling and consolidation of his forces, were al-Dawla's attempt to exploit a perceived weakness in Byzantium's defenses following Nikephoros' departure for Crete.

On the Hamdanid side, Al-Dawla faced rebellions by three successive noblemen: Ibn az-Zayyat in 961, Hibat Allah in 963, and Nadja in 963–64.

[10] By the time Nikephoros became emperor, after his successful seizure of Crete, he had decided on a grander plan to expand Byzantine territory, rather than merely sack the Arab cities and withdraw.

He instructed his engineers to dig under the city fortifications while the Arabs were distracted and collapse the weakest perceived section of the wall.

The nature of the circumstances of this coup are dubious due to a lack of sources, but it is clear that the Abbasid authorities had no preconceived notions of it as it was incredibly successful.

He wished to meet up with his navy there, but the winds and tides were uncooperative and he could not besiege the city, and instead marched north to the fortress of Arqa, which he soon captured and looted.

His successor, Sa'd al-Dawla, was a weak and ineffectual ruler, and by the time he ascended the throne, Hamdanid territory had become a mere battlefield on which the Byzantines and Fatimids could settle their disputes.

In fact, the Byzantines would see nearly unchecked expansion[citation needed] from the conquests of Cilicia and Antioch, only finally being subdued by the Seljuk Empire at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.