The Ottomans favored Al-Mutawakkil’s uncle Abdul Malik Saadi and offered him asylum in 1574. In 1576, they provided him with a legion of 10000 men, mostly of Janissaries, to retrieve Fez and overthrow his nephew Caliph Muhammed Al-Mutawakkil. Abdul Malik defeated Al-Mutawakkil at the Battle of Al-Rukn and took over Fez and other Moroccan cities.