The Battle of al-Khazir After quelling the rebellion in Kufa...

The Battle of al-Khazir After quelling the rebellion in Kufa, Ibrahim set out to confront Ibn Ziyad with a force numbering between eight and twenty thousand soldiers on either the 6th, 8th, or 21st of Dhu l-Hijja, 66 AH (corresponding to the 4th, 6th, or 19th of July, 686 CE). The majority of his troops were Iranian freedmen known as al-Hamra [13] .

On the 10th of Muharram, 67 AH (August 6th, 686 CE), a significant battle occurred at the banks of the al-Khazir River, near Zab, approximately 5 Farsakhs from Mosul [14] . According to al-Baladhuri, Ibrahim’s army initially faced setbacks on the battlefield, leading to false rumors of his death, possibly to undermine al-Mukhtar’s rule in Kufa. However, Ibrahim’s forces quickly regrouped…