Battle of Raban

The Battle of Raban was an engagement fought in autumn 958 near the fortress of Raban (in modern-day Turkey) between the Byzantine army, led by John Tzimiskes (later emperor in 969–976), and the forces of the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo under the famed emir Sayf al-Dawla (r. 945–967). The battle was a major victory for the Byzantines, and contributed to the demise of Hamdanid military power, which in the early 950s had proven a great challenge to Byzantium.