Future events were foreshadowed in October, 1846, when Kassa Hailu defeated detachments of Empress Menen's army at two separate battles in Dembiya; at the time, "Ras" Ali was away in Gojjam attempting to subdue the province's warlord, Birru Goshu, and unable to assist his mother. Kassa defeated the army of Empress Menen the following year on 18 June at Iloha, and took both Menen and her husband the former Emperor Yohannes III captive, forcing "Ras" Ali to negotiate their release. After three months, in return for making Kassa "dejazmach" over Dembiya, north of Lake Tana, the Empress and her powerless husband were released. Dejazmach Kassa later reconciled himself to "Ras" Ali in 1849, and Kassa remained loyal to Ali for the next three years.