Shortly thereafter, Salah Raïs undertook a surprise night attack on the fortress where he charged a corps of 1,500 men he had selected. The Sultan of Fez met the troops of the regency of Algiers near Taza on December 5, 1553, but withdrew from that city to a fortress once he realized the superiority of the Ottoman artillery. The pasha of Algiers, although he had a much smaller army, also prepared his army for battle against the advice of his officers. Shortly thereafter, the Sultan of Fez prepared his army for battle. The Sultan of Fez, having been alerted to this offensive, gathered 30,000 horsemen and 10,000 men to defend Fez. In 1553, Salah Rais left for Fez with 6,000 musketeers, 1,000 sipahis and a contingent of 4,000 cavalrymen who were partisans of the kingdom of Koukou. However, Mohammed al-Shaykh resumed his incursions to the east of the Moulouya shortly afterwards and concluded an alliance with the Spaniards, which rekindled the war between him and Salah Raïs. Following this defeat, Mohammed al-Shaykh welcomed with respect the ambassador of the beylerbey of Algiers to negotiate the end of the conflict and to fix the course of the Moulouya as the border between the Saadian dynasty and the regency of Algiers. The following year, he repeated his attempt with an army of 17,000 fighters led by his three sons, but he was once again severely defeated. The Moroccans captured the city but were expelled by Ottoman Janissaries and local supporters. Not accepting the haughty tone of the Sultan and wanting to take advantage of the resumption of the Ottoman war on other fronts, Mohammed al-Shaykh tried to annex Tlemcen and its region. The Saadian Sultan was treated as a subordinate and in a haughty manner by the Ottoman Sultan who referred to him as "governor of the province of Fez". The relations between the regency of Algiers and the Saadian sultan Mohammed al-Shaykh did not have a good start as the Ottomans supported their Wattasid rivals. In 1544/1545 Ali Abu Hassun, the Wattasid ruler of northern Morocco, hoping to gain military support from the Ottomans, formally recognised the authority of the Ottoman Sultan and declared himself a vassal of the Ottomans, however the Ottomans were unable to intervene in 1549 when Abu Hassun lost Fez to Mohammed al-Shaykh, the first Saadi sultan. These migrants from north Africa expanded their territory and forged support and alliances. As their power crumbled, the regime faced a new threat from the Saadis, who claimed they were shorfa or descendants of Muhammad. an account also cited that the last of the Wattasid sultans forged a tactical alliance with the Portuguese, which diminished his standing among religious leaders. In the latter part of the 15th century the Wattasid sultans were in control and they started losing the coastlines to the Portuguese and Spanish forces. At the heart of this kingdom was Fez, which became one of the most opulent cities in the medieval world under the rule of the Merenid dynasty. Background ĭespite the Ottoman domination of most of North Africa, Morocco had managed to remain independent. The battle took place on 7 January at Qudyat-al-Mahali, a suburb near Fez and occurred after Salah Reis’ two previous victories against the Saadians, one at Taza and another at the Sebou river. The Conquest of Fez or Capture of Fez took place in 1554 between the Algerian forces of Salah Rais and the ruler of the Saadi Sultanate, Mohammed ash-Sheikh.
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