He also engaged the Hamdanid Emir of Mosul, who was de jure under the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and his Buyid overlords, over control of parts of Upper Mesopotamia (Jazira).

[1] Tzimiskes would swiftly repel the invading Rus force at the Arcadiopolis, and, after conquering much of mainland Greece and Bulgaria in 971, the path for an eastern campaign was cleared.

While Tzimiskes had been fighting in Bulgaria, the Fatimids managed to break into the Byzantine Empire itself and laid siege to Antioch, which had been captured from the Hamdanids six years earlier.

[3] As the campaigning season ended, Tzimiskes appointed to the position of Domestic of the East an Armenian named Mleh; his job was to maintain stability at the frontier.

He quickly set out for the border town of Amida, while Taghlib responded by sending an army under his brother Hibat Allah to challenge the invaders.

[3] The defeat of Mleh was significant, as it undermined the Byzantine's position with the Armenians in terms of securing a possible alliance, as well as losing their annual tribute from Mosul.

Tzimiskes hoped to eventually advance on Mosul, and perhaps even Baghdad itself, thereby breaking the power of the Arabs in Mesopotamia whilst also increasing his legitimacy at home.

Later that year, however, Tzimiskes received news from across the fertile crescent: the Fatimids had crushed the Qarmatians in Syria and were now advancing up the Levant towards Antioch, having already taken Tripoli and Berytus.

From there he besieged and took Heliopolis, and then advanced on Damascus, whose ruler, Amir Aftakin, a refugee from Baghdad who had recognized Fatimid suzerainty, surrendered his lands to Tzimiskes.