Both Eldiguzids and Saladin of Ayyubid dynasty intervened, although one of Sökmen's mamluks, Beytimur, managed to supersede them through cunning diplomacy.

Meanwhile, Najm al-Din, Ayyubid ruler of Mayyāfāriqīn, besieged Khlat, reviving the claims of his family over the town.

[3] Local Meskhetian forces under Sargis Tmogveli and Shalva Akhaltsikheli had been blockading Kars intermittently for some years, and Queen Tamar of Georga decided to send a special army under David Soslan and brothers Zakaria and Ivane Mkhargrdzelis to assist their efforts.

[4][5] According to contemporary Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir, Georgians besieged the fortress of Kars and pressed hard on those within.

After the long siege, the emir of Kars, seeing that no assistance was coming, decided to hand over his domain to Georgians in exchange for a large amount of money and a fiefdom for him.