However, he failed to pursue the siege with vigour and the city was easily able to resist until, in the spring of 993, after thirteen months of campaigning, Manjutakin was forced to return to Damascus due to lack of supplies.[4][5] In spring 994, Manjutakin launched another invasion, again defeated Bourtzes at the Battle of the Orontes in September, took Homs, Apamea and Shayzar and besieged Aleppo. The blockade was far more effective this time and soon caused a severe lack of food, but the city's defenders held out under the determined guidance of the Hamdanids' de facto regent, Lu'lu', until the sudden arrival of the Byzantine emperor, Basil II, in person in April 995. Basil, who had been campaigning in Bulgaria, had responded to the Hamdanids' plea for aid, and crossed Asia Minor in only sixteen days at the head of an army; his sudden arrival, and the exaggerated numbers circulating for his army, caused panic in the Fatimid army, especially as Manjutakin, expecting no threat, had ordered his cavalry horses to be dispersed around the city for pasture.