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At that point, however, Oktay Khan and Houlagou Khan were forced to return to Central Asia in order to claim the throne of their brother. The Mamelukes of Egypt used this opportunity, to drive back the leaderless Mongol army, took the city of Antiochia and then attacked New Armenia, occupying the plain of Cilicia and carrying out horrific deeds and extensive devastation. Hetoum I, who had taken shelter in the mountainous part of the country, was forced to give away the fortress of Derbesak to the sultan of Egypt to regain peace. King Hetoum stepped down from the throne in his old age, succeeded by his son, Levon III.



Levon III, who ruled between 1270 and 1289, was immediately challenged by discontented Armenian princes. The Egyptian sultan used this opportunity to once more attack New Armenia. He conquered the plain of Cilicia and in 1273 took the city of Tarsus and burned it to the ground. The population was massacred or taken as prisoners. The king and the Armenian army, as in the pastī, took refuge in the Taurus Mountains and continued the battle from here. The fortress of Sis, the capital of the country, was able to withstand the attacks of the enemy. Then, in 1276, when Levon III had finally gathered all the Armenian forces around him, he launched a counter-offensive. He lured the enemy army into an ambush and destroyed it. The Egyptian sultan, who had been hit by an arrow during the battles, fled homewards, but died of his wounds on arrival in Damascus. 78

Meanwhile, the Turkish sultan of Konya had occupied the western part of New Armenia. Levon III, having driven the Mameluke forces out from the country, turned to the Seljuk Turks and forced them to retreat.

After this campaign, Levon III united his forces with the Mongol army and together they attacked Syria. The Armenian and Mongol armies engaged with the army of the Egyptian sultan at Homs, by the Oronte River. The battle was proceeding in favour of the Armenians and the Mongols, when the Mongols, at the end of the day, were suddenly ordered by their leader, Mengou Temur, to retreat. Thus Levon III was forced to return to Armenia. When he heard the news, the wrath of the Mongol Khan was indescribable and his punishment of Mengou Temur and his forces unrelenting: he ordered all the commanders to be beheaded and the soldiers to dress in women's clothing. 80



Levon III was succeeded by his son, Hetoum II, who ruled between 1289 and 1305. Against the mighty Mamelukes of Egypt, who by this time had eradicated all traces of the crusaders in the east, Hetoum II continued to ally himself with the Mongols. At the same time he tried to establish friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of Cyprus, which together with New Armenia were the only Christian countries in West Asia. To this end, he married one of his sisters, Mariam, to the Byzantine Emperor Michael IX and his other sister, Isabelle, to Amaury de Tyr, brother to the , 13th century Cyprus king, Henry II.

Hetoum II, who was a great writer, often sojourned in a monastery in order to devote his time to reading and writing, meanwhile leaving the rule in the hands his brothers Toros, Smbat and Constantine. As soon as the political climate demanded his personal presence however, he returned to the throne; although these reappearances often ended in bloody fights, since some of his brothers, once tasting the sweetness of power, were reluctant to hand over the throne to its rightful owner.