Syrian campaigns of John Tzimiskes

Mesopotamian campaigns of John Tzimiskes
Part of the Arab–Byzantine wars
John Tzimiskes receiving ambassadors from the Rus, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes.
Date 974–975 Location Syria, the Levant Result Byzantine victory Territorial changes Ephemeral conquest of much of the Levant by the Byzantine Empire
Belligerents
Fatimid Caliphate Buyid dynasty (controlling de facto the Abbasid Caliphate ) Hamdanid dynasty in Mosul Emirate of Damascus	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Al-Mu'izz Abu Taghlib Alptakin Kulayb Izz al-Dawla Sebük-Tegin	John I Tzimiskes

The Mesopotamian campaigns of John Tzimiskes were a series of campaigns undertaken by the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes against the Fatimid Caliphate in the Levant and against the Abbasid Caliphate in Syria. Following the weakening and collapse of the Hamdanid Dynasty of Aleppo, much of the Near East lay open to Byzantium, and, following the assassination of Nikephoros II Phokas, the new emperor, John Tzimiskes, was quick to engage the newly successful Fatimid Dynasty over control of the near east and its important cities, namely Antioch, Aleppo, and Caesarea. He also engaged the Hamdanid Emir of Mosul, who was de jure under the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and his Buyid overlords, over control of parts of Upper Mesopotamia (Jazira).