Editing Nikephoros II Phokas (section)

===Later Eastern campaigns===

Following the conquest of Crete, Nikephoros returned to the east and marched a large and well-equipped army into [[Cilicia]]. In February 962, he captured [[Anazarbos]] and threatened the major city of [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]], which had recently ceased to recognize the Hamdanid Emir of [[Aleppo]], [[Sayf al-Dawla]].{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=39}} Nikephoros continued to ravage the Cilician countryside and won an open battle against [[Ibn al-Zayyat (governor of Tarsus)|Ibn al-Zayyat]], governor of Tarsus, who killed himself after the defeat. Thereafter, Nikephoros returned to the regional capital of [[Kayseri|Caesarea]]. Upon the beginning of the new campaigning season al-Dawla entered the Byzantine Empire to conduct raids, a strategy which left Aleppo dangerously undefended. Nikephoros soon took [[Manbij|Syrian Hierapolis]].{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=49}} In December, an army split between Nikephoros and [[John I Tzimiskes]] [[Sack of Aleppo (962)|marched towards Aleppo]], quickly routing an opposing force led by [[Naja al-Kasaki]]. Al-Dawla's force caught up with the Byzantines, but he too was routed, and Nikephoros and Tzimiskes entered Aleppo on 24 December.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=39}} The loss of the city would prove to be both a strategic and moral disaster for the Hamdanids. It was probably on these campaigns that Nikephoros earned the sobriquet "Pale Death of the Saracens".<ref>{{cite book |last=Gregory |first=Timothy E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIFJiOCSYc8C&pg=PA263 |title=A History of Byzantium |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4443-5997-8 |location=Malden |page=263}}</ref>