The First Crossing of the Darb

أول قطع الدرب

In al-Baladhuri: they differ on who first cut the Darb — the Baghras pass — some saying it was Maysara ibn Masruq al-Absi, sent by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, who met a Byzantine gathering with musta'riba of Ghassan, Tanukh and Iyad making to join Heraclius, fell on them and killed a great slaughter, after which Malik al-Ashtar al-Nakha'i joined him as reinforcement from Abu Ubayda at Antioch; others say the first to cut it was Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari when he went out on the matter of Jabala ibn al-Ayham; and Abu al-Khattab al-Azdi heard that Abu Ubayda himself led the summer raid, passing Masisa and Tarsus — their people having evacuated with the forts beyond — and crossed the pass reaching Zanda, while others say he merely sent Maysara ibn Masruq who reached Zanda.