The first years of his reign, "from 1556 to 1566, Philip II was concerned principally with Muslim allies of the Turks, based in Tripoli and Algiers, the bases from which North African [Muslim] forces under the corsair Dragut preyed upon Christian shipping." In 1560, a Spanish-led Christian fleet was sent to recapture Tripoli (captured by Spain in 1510), but the fleet was destroyed by the Ottomans at the Battle of Djerba. The Ottomans attempted to seize the Spanish military-bases of Oran and Mers El Kébir on the North African coast in 1563, but were repulsed. In 1565, the Ottomans sent a large expedition to Malta, which laid siege to several forts on the island. A Spanish relief force from Sicily drove the Ottomans (exhausted from a long siege) away from the island. The death of Suleiman the Magnificent the following year and his succession by his less capable son Selim the Sot emboldened Philip, who resolved to carry the war to the sultan himself.