The pro-Roman Vandal king Hilderic was deposed by his cousin Gelimer in 530. The ensuing insurrections in Sardinia and Tripolitania provided Justinian with a pretext to intervene. He appointed Belisarius to lead the invasion against the Vandal Kingdom early in 533. Theodoric's daughter, Amalasuntha, who ruled the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy as regent for her son Athalaric, allowed the Roman expeditionary forces to use the port of Syracuse during the campaign. In a year, Belisarius defeated the Vandals with the native population's support and conquered their kingdom. The pacification of the reconquered northern African territories lasted for years because of riots by unruly Berber tribes and their cooperations with rebellious Roman troops. In Italy, Athalaric died and Amalasuntha's cousin Theodahad had her assassinated in 535. An unidentified natural catastrophe, likely dust from a major vulcanic eruption, darkened the sun between 24 March 535 and 24 June 536. The low temperature caused disastrous crop failures and massive famine. The catastrophe did not prevent Justinian from going to war against the Ostrogoths. In 535 Mundus conquered Dalmatia and Belisarius captured Sicily. During the following five years, Belisarius occupied almost whole Italy, but an Ostrogothic kingdom survived in the north. Taking advantage of the concentration of the Roman troops in Italy, the Bulgars launched a pillaging raid over the Balkans, and Khosrow resumed the war. He invaded Syria, sacked Antioch and restored Sassanian suzerainty over Lazica.