 Ahmad ibn Tahir, whose demand of a share in Isa's emirate was denied by Baybars, desisted from further opposition when he was given a smaller emirate elsewhere in Syria.In early 1265, Isa was dispatched by Baybars to lead a raid against Ilkhanid-held Harran as a diversion for a Mamluk expedition aimed at relieving their Anatolian fortress of al-Birah from an Ilkhanid siege; al-Birah's defenders withstood the siege and the Ilkhanids retreated in haste with the arrival of Mamluk forces in February.In 1268/69, Baybars took hostage some of the Bedouin chieftains' sons as leverage to ensure that their fathers did not defect to the Ilkhanids.