 In the next year, the Muslims attacked the last remaining Christian stronghold on the island, Rometta, which prompted an expedition sent by the Byzantine emperor, Nikephoros II Phokas, to recover Sicily.The Byzantines were at first successful, recapturing Messina and other fortresses in the northeast, but were repulsed before Rometta itself, and retreated back to Calabria.In the next year, they tried to resume their offensive, but were annihilated in the "Battle of the Straits" ("waqʿat al-majāz") off Messina.