Demetrius was succeeded by his son George III in 1156, beginning a stage of more offensive foreign policy. The same year he ascended to the throne, George launched a successful campaign against the Seljuq sultanate of Ahlat. He freed the important Armenian town of Dvin from Eldiguzid vassalage and was thus welcomed as a liberator in the area. Eldiguz formed a coalition with other Seljuqids in the beginning of the 1160s to fight against the Georgians, and in 1163. the allies inflicted a defeat on king George III of Georgia. The Seljuqid rulers were jubilant, and they prepared for a new campaign. However, this time they were forestalled by George III, who marched into Arran at the beginning of 1166, occupied a region extending to faraway cities as Nakhchivan and Beylagan, devastated the land and returned with prisoners and booty. There seemed to be no end to the war between George III and atabeg Eldiguz. But the belligerents were exhausted to such an extent that Eldiguz proposed an armistice. George had no alternative but to make concessions. Eldiguz restored Ani to its former rulers, the Shaddadids. In 1167, George marched to defend his vassal Shah Akhsitan of Shirvan against the Rus' and Kipchak assaults and strengthened the Georgian dominance in the area. George gave his daughter Rusudan, in marriage, to Manuel Komnenos, the son of Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos. In 1173, Atabeg Eldiguz began another campaign against Georgia but he was defeated. Atabeg's troops retreated and Eldiguz died in 1174 in Nakhchivan. In 1177, the nobles rose in rebellion but were suppressed. The following year, King George III ceded the throne to his daughter Tamar, but remained coregent until his death in 1184.