Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Nur ad-Din shi ne ɗan na biyu na Imad ad-Din Zengi, "atabeg" na Turkiyya na Aleppo da Mosul, wanda ya kasance babban abokin gaba na kasancewar masu tsattsauran ra'ayi a Siriya. Bayan kisan mahaifinsa a 1146, Nur ad-Din da babban ɗan'uwansa Saif ad-Din Ghazi na raba masarautar tsakanin su, tare da Nur ad-Din yana mulkin Aleppo da Saif ad-Din Ghazi yana kafa kansa a Mosul. An kafa iyaka tsakanin sabbin masarautun biyu ta Kogin al-Khabur. Kusan da zaran ya fara mulkinsa, Nur ad-Din ya kai hari kan Yariman Antioch, ya kwace manyan gidaje da yawa a arewacin Siriya, yayin da a lokaci guda ya kayar da yunƙurin Joscelin II don dawo da County na Edessa, wanda aka ci nasara
ta hannun Zengi a shekara ta 1144. A cikin 1146, bayan yunƙurin Frankish na sake mamaye Edessa, Nur ad-Din ya kashe mutanen Armeniya na Krista na gari kuma ya lalata garuruwansa, a matsayin horo don taimaka wa Joscelin a cikin wannan yunƙurin. A cewar Thomas Asbridge, an bautar da mata da yara na Edessa.