the battle, putting a definitive end to Wattasid prospects in Morocco. Immediately after this, Muhammad al-Shaykh entered into negotiations with Count Alcaudete, the governor and general of the Spanish forces occupying Oran and other positions on the Algerian coast, to secure an anti-Ottoman alliance with Spain. Alcaudete concluded an agreement in 1555 to offer Al-Shaykh Spanish troops, but the Spanish government initially refused to endorse the plan. Meanwhile, Al-Shaykh had his older brother, Ahmad al-Araj, executed along with many of his sons and grandsons, thus securing the succession of his own son Abdallah. Saadian forces also managed to occupy Tlemcen again in 1556 while the Ottomans were preoccupied with besieging the Spanish in Oran. In the summer of 1557 the Ottoman sultan sent another ambassador to Al-Shaykh demanding more forcefully that he accept Ottoman overlordship, which Al-Shaykh rejected with defiance and contempt. On October 23 of the same year, Muhammad al-Shaykh was assassinated – reportedly on the orders of the Ottoman sultan – by a Turkish member of his bodyguard, Salah ibn Kyahya, who had posed as an Ottoman deserter. Apogee Abdallah al-Ghalib and his successors Following the assassination, Abdallah al-Ghalib succeeded his father as sultan. At the same time, three of his brothers – Abd al-Malik, Ahmad, and Abd al-Mu'min – fled the country in fear of assassination and took refuge with the Ottomans. (Though it is possible that Ahmad only fled much later, depending on which historical sources are consulted.) Abdallah was able to have Abd al-Mu'min assassinated years later, circa 1572, but Abd al-Malik entered into the service of the Ottoman sultan. Hasan Pasha, re-appointed as Ottoman pasha of Algiers, also sent an army to expel the Saadians from Tlemcen once again. The Saadians evacuated the city and were pursued by the Ottomans into Morocco, resulting in the Battle of Wadi al-Laban to the north of Fez in early 1558. The battle has been called indecisive by historian Abun-Nasr since Hasan withdrew from Morocco in part because he had to deal with the Spanish in Algeria, while other authors characterize it as a Saadian victory which effectively ended Ottoman attempts to enter Morocco by military means. Count Alcaudete, in turn, seeing that his alliance with Muhammad al-Shaykh was now moot, attempted to attack Mustaghanim in Algeria, where he died in a disastrous defeat for the Spanish. Abdallah's reign was not marked by significant conquests. In 1560 or