At age twelve in October 1104, Irtash briefly replaced his nephew, the one-year old Tutush II, as ruler of Damascus. Duqaq, the brother of Tutush I and father of Tutush II, had Irtash imprisoned at Baalbek in 1104, then ruled by al-Taj Gümüshtegin. Released on the order of Toghtekin and suspicious of the latter’s intentions, he fled to Hauran where he was given asylum by emir Aytekin al-Halabi of Bosra.