After some skirmishing, the Tahiride Sultan Ali temporarily took Dhamar in 1460.
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His grandson Yahya bin al-Mukhtar bin al-Mutahhar was emir of Ta'izz under the Tahiride Sultan Amir.
After al-Mutawakkil's death in Hajjah in 1298, al-Mahdi Muhammad claimed the succession, although the imamate was not strictly speaking hereditary.
Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad ruled San'a and the surrounding districts; the Kawkaban area stood under the sons of the old imam al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar; and the traditional Zaidi centre Sa'dah and its districts were divided between al-Mansur Muhammad and two other families.
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Muhammad bin Ali as-Siraji al-Washali was one of the three Sayyids who claimed the Yemeni imamate after the death of al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar in Dhamar in 1474.
The sons of the old imam al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar dominated Kawkaban, and the region around the traditional Zaidi centre Sa'dah was divided between imam al-Mansur Muhammad and two other factions.
Al-Mutahhar took up a stance in the strong mountain stronghold Thula.
Al-Mutawakkil al-Muhsin withdrew to Haddah south of San'a where he rallied support to fight the Turkish occupiers.
This time the mountainous trench of the imam was overrun, and he had to roam around from place to place, eventually establishing himself in Hajjah.