 Ibn az-Zayyat with an army of 4,000 Tarsians tried to oppose the Byzantine general, but he was defeated with heavy losses, including Ibn az-Zayyat's own brother.Following this defeat, the people of Tarsus once again turned to Sayf al-Dawla for protection, whereupon Ibn az-Zayyat killed himself by falling from the window of his house into the Berdan River (February 962), although at least one source (the 13th-century historian Yaqut) reports that he was present at the final surrender of Tarsus to Nikephoros Phokas (now emperor) in 965.Sayf al-Dawla appointed as his successor Rashiq al-Nasimi.