In response Dirgham sought help from Amalric, but Shirkuh and Shawar arrived before Amalric could intervene and Dirgham was killed.

In 1167, Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh back to Egypt and Amalric once again followed him, establishing a camp near Cairo ; Shawar again allied with Amalric and a treaty was signed with the caliph al-Adid himself.

Shirkuh negotiated for peace and Alexandria was handed over to Amalric.

Shirkuh became vizier, although he himself died in March, and was succeeded by his nephew Saladin.

Egypt's capital was permanently moved to Cairo, which was eventually expanded to include the ruins of Fustat and the previous capitals of al-Askar and al-Qatta ' i. While the Fustat fire successfully protected the city of Cairo, a continuing power struggle between Shawar, King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and Zengid general Shirkuh led to the downfall of the Fatimid establishment.

Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh back to Egypt in 1166, and Shawar again allied with Amalric, who was defeated at the Battle of al-Babein.

Shawar was promptly assassinated, and when Shirkuh died in 1169, he was succeeded by his nephew Yusuf, better known as Saladin.

After Shawar was successfully reinstated as vizier, he demanded that Shirkuh withdraw his army from Egypt for a sum of 30, 000 dinars, but he refused insisting it was Nur ad-Din's will that he remain.

Saladin's role in this expedition was minor, and it is known that he was ordered by Shirkuh to collect stores from Bilbais prior to its siege by a combined force of Crusaders and Shawar's troops.

In 1169, Shawar was reportedly assassinated by Saladin, and Shirkuh died later that year.

Saladin agreed to a truce with Bohemond in return for Muslim prisoners being held by him and then he gave A ' zaz to Alam ad-Din Suleiman and Aleppo to Saif al-Din al-Yazkuj — the former was an emir of Aleppo who joined Saladin and the latter was a former mamluk of Shirkuh who helped rescue him from the assassination attempt at A ' zaz.

He was beheaded by Shirkuh, the uncle of Saladin, and his head was placed in a silver box and sent to the Caliph of Baghdad as a gift.

As a consequence for assisting Zangi, Ayyub was put to task by the Abbasid authorities, and simultaneously, in another incident, Shirkuh killed a close confidant of Bihruz on charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in Tikrit.

Ayyub was made commander of Ba ' albek and Shirkuh entered the service of Zangi's son, Nur ad-Din.

After being reinstated, Shawar ordered Shirkuh to withdraw his forces from Egypt, but Shirkuh refused, claiming it was Nur al-Din's will.

Control of Homs was handed to the descendants of Shirkuh in 1179 and Hama was given to Saladin's nephew, Taqi al-Din Umar.

Ultimately, Nur ed-Din's Kurdish general Shirkuh was successful in conquering Egypt in 1169, but Shirkuh's nephew and successor as Governor of Egypt, Saladin, eventually rejected Nur ad-Din's control.

Amalric returned home but Shawar fled to the court of Nur ad-Din, who sent his general Shirkuh to settle the dispute in 1164.

Meanwhile Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh back to Egypt as well, and upon his arrival Amalric retreated.

The Egyptian vizier Shawar again requested help from Nur ad-Din, who sent his general Shirkuh, but Shawar quickly turned against him and allied with Amalric.

He asked for military backing from Nur ad-Din, who complied and in 1164, sent Shirkuh to aid Shawar in his expedition against Dirgham.

In 1164, Nur al-Din sent Shirkuh to head an expeditionary force to prevent Crusader dominance of an increasingly anarchic Egypt.

In 1166 Shirkuh was sent again to Egypt.

He was beheaded by Shirkuh, the uncle of Saladin, and his head was placed in a silver box and sent to the Caliph of Baghdad as a gift.

The crusaders allied with the sultan against Shirkuh, the general of Nur ad-Din Zangi who was also fighting for control of Egypt, and Hugh was sent to protect Cairo along with the sultan's son Kamil.

Shawar was restored and Dirgham was killed, but after quarrelling with Shirkuh, Shawar allied with Amalric I of Jerusalem, who marched into Egypt in 1164 and besieged Shirkuh at Bilbeis ( see Crusader invasion of Egypt ).

Amalric returned to Egypt in 1164 and besieged Shirkuh in Bilbeis until Shirkuh retreated to Damascus.

Shirkuh engaged in a power struggle over Egypt with Shawar and Amalric I of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, in which Shawar requested Amalric's assistance.

After the decay of the Fatimid political system in the 1160s, the Zengid ruler Nūr ad-Dīn had his general, Shirkuh, seize Egypt from the vizier Shawar in 1169.

With his uncle Shirkuh he conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur ad-Din of Damascus in 1169.

For several years, the Shirkuh and Saladin would defeat the combined forces of the Crusaders and Shawar's troops, first at Bilbais, then a site near Giza, and Alexandria where Saladin would stay to protect while Shirkuh pursued Crusader forces in Lower Egypt.

Nur ad-Din did not want to spare his own army for a defense of Egypt, but his Kurdish general Shirkuh convinced him to invade in 1164.

Shirkuh agreed to abandon Egypt when Amalric was forced to return home, after Nur ad-Din attacked Antioch and besieged the castle of Harenc.

Shadhi left for Iraq with his two sons Najm al-Din Ayyub and Asad al-Din Shirkuh.

After Shadhi's death, Ayyub succeeded him in governance of the city with the assistance of his brother Asad ad-Din Shirkuh.

Shawar immediately expelled Shirkuh and allied with Amalric, who arrived to besiege Shirkuh at Bilbeis.

Shawar's son Khalil had had enough, and with support from Caliph al-Adil requested help from Nur ad-Din and Shirkuh.

When Shirkuh killed a Christian with whom he was quarrelling in Tikrit in 1138, the brothers were exiled ( Shirkuh's nephew Yusuf, later known as Saladin, was supposedly born the night they left ).

He encouraged Amalric to make a treaty with Egypt rather than capturing it by force and submitting it to plunder ; after Amalric returned home, Egypt quickly fell under the control of Nur ad-Din Zangi and his commander Shirkuh.

Shawar, however, feared that Shirkuh would seize power for himself, and he too looked to Amalric for assistance.

In January 1169 Shirkuh had Shawar assassinated.

Amalric accomplished nothing else, but his actions prompted Shawar to switch sides again and seek help from Shirkuh.

Nur ad-Din chose a successor for Shirkuh, but al-Adid appointed Saladin to replace Shawar as vizier.

Shawar died in 1169 and Shirkuh became vizier, but he too died later that year.

Shawar was executed and Shirkuh was named vizier of the newly conquered territory, later succeeded by his nephew Saladin.