and the fear generated by Ibn Tulun's army, Musa never got further than Raqqa. After ten months of inaction and a rebellion by his troops, Musa returned to Iraq. In a public gesture of support for al-Mu'tamid and opposition to al-Muwaffaq, Ibn Tulun would assume the title of "Servant of the Commander of the Faithful" (mawlā amīr al-muʾminīn) in 878. Ibn Tulun now seized the initiative. Having served in his youth in the border wars with the Byzantine Empire at Tarsus, he now requested to be conferred the command of the frontier districts of Cilicia (the Thughur). Al-Muwaffaq initially refused, but following the Byzantine successes of the previous years al-Mu'tamid prevailed upon his brother and in 877/8 Ibn Tulun received responsibility for the entirety of Syria and the Cilician frontier. Ibn Tulun marched into Syria in person. He received the submission of the son of Amajur, who had recently died, whom he appointed governor at Ramla, and proceeded to take possession of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. At Damascus Ibn Tulun encountered his old rival Ibn al-Mudabbir, who since his eviction from Egypt had served as Amajur's for Palestine and Damascus. Ibn al-Mudabbir was fined 600,000 dinars and thrown into prison, where he died in 883/4. In the rest of the provincial administration, however, he largely left the people who had served under Amajur in place. Only the governor of Aleppo, Sima al-Tawil, resisted, and fled to Antioch. Ibn Tulun laid siege to the city until Sima was killed, reportedly by a local woman. He then continued on to Tarsus, where he began preparing for a campaign against the Byzantines. The presence of his numerous soldiers, however, led to a rapid rise in prices, causing great hostility among the Tarsians, who demanded that he either leave or reduce his army. At this juncture, news arrived from Egypt that his son Abbas, whom he had left as his regent, was preparing to usurp his position under the influence of his entourage. Ibn Tulun hastily withdrew from Tarsus, but as more information about the situation in Egypt began to arrive, clarifying that Abbas posed no real threat, Ibn Tulun decided to spend more time in Syria and consolidate his authority. He redressed the injustices of Sima, installed troops in Aleppo (under his Lu'lu') and Harran, secured the co-operation of the Banu Kilab tribe and their leader Ibn al-Abbas, and captured the rebel