Towards the end of Thutmose III's reign, and under the influence of Mitanni, the Syrian states changed their loyalty, causing Thutmose's successor Amenhotep II () to march north in his seventh year on the throne, where he fought troops from Qatna near the city. The threat of the Hittites prompted Mitanni's king to sue for peace: Artatama I approached Amenhotep II for an alliance and long negotiations started. The talks lasted until after Amenhotep's death, when his successor Thutmose IV () finally sealed a treaty that divided the Levant between the two powers. Qatna and the states north of it, such as Nuhašše, fell into the sphere of Mitanni. Despite its reduced status, Qatna still controlled the Lebanon Mountains away in the 14th century BC.