Thanks to his military and diplomatic prowess and with the support given by the Holy Roman Emperors (Frederick Barbarossa and his son, Henry VI), prince Levon Rupenian was able to elevate the status of his principality to a kingdom.

He argues that the Mamluk column of 1276 was largely consisting of Turkmen invading from the direction of Marash and that Marius Canard found no Arab source which mentions this raid, concluding that it had merely local significance.

Notably, in 1266, in the absence of the Mongol allies and of King Hethum I who was traveling to Karakorum to summon help, the Armenians suffered a crushing defeat while taken by surprise by the Mamluk army at Mari, near Darbsak.

The port city of Ayas was destroyed and burned by a Mamluk column and some 2000 Frankish and Armenian inhabitants drowned while attempting to take refuge on the ships in the harbor.

In 1276, Sempad the Constable marched with several hundred knights and a force of Armenian infantrymen to meet a column of about 1000 Mamluk cavalrymen and a "great strength" of Turkmen auxiliaries approaching from the side of Marash.

He ambushed them in the Northern Amanus mountains, in a pass near the fortress of Sarvandik'ar while King Leo II of Armenia undertook a detour to strike the enemy in the rear and block its retreat.

While more detailed accounts of the battle are lacking due to the paucity of sources, the Cilician Armenians emerged as clear victors and followed the enemy in pursuit to the proximity of Marash, before stopping.

Their seasoned warrior, chronicler and Supreme Court judge, Sempad the Constable, died accidentally during the pursuit of the Muslim force, after being hurled against a tree by his own horse.

Hostilities between Mamluks and Mongols, and the latter's Armenian allies, soon broke out again, culminating in 1281 with the Second Battle of Homs that had renewed disastrous consequences for the Kingdom of Cilician Armenia.