Following his meeting with al-Muttaqi, al-Ikhshid returned to Egypt, leaving the field open for the ambitious Sayf al-Dawla. The Ikhshidid forces left behind in Syria were relatively weak, and the Hamdanid leader, having gained the support of the Banu Kilab, had little difficulty in capturing Aleppo on 29 October 944. He then began extending his control over the provinces of northern Syria down to Hims. Al-Ikhshid sent an army under the eunuchs Abu al-Misk Kafur and Fatik against the Hamdanid, but it was defeated near Hama and retreated back to Egypt, abandoning Damascus and Palestine to the Hamdanids. Al-Ikhshid was then forced to once again campaign in person in April 945, but at the same time he sent envoys proposing to Sayf al-Dawla an agreement along the lines of the one with Ibn Ra'iq: the Hamdanid prince would get to keep northern Syria, while al-Ikhshid would pay him an annual tribute for the possession of Palestine and Damascus. Sayf al-Dawla refused and reportedly even boasted that he would conquer Egypt itself, but al-Ikhshid held the upper hand: his agents managed to bribe several Hamdanid leaders, and he won over the citizens of Damascus, who barred their gates before the Hamdanid and opened them for al-Ikhshid. The two armies met near Qinnasrin in May, where the Hamdanids were defeated. Sayf al-Dawla fled to Raqqa, leaving his capital Aleppo to be captured by al-Ikhshid.