The Jazira

الجزيرة

The Euphratean Jazira, the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris; conquered by Iyad ibn Ghanm after Abu Ubayda's death — 'the whole Jazira is Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest' in Maymun ibn Mihran's words — marching for it mid-Sha'ban year 18 in five thousand; its cities include al-Ruha, Harran, al-Raqqa, Nasibin, Sinjar, Mosul and the Tigris kuwar, and with Syria it became the field of the summer and winter raids on the Byzantines.

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The Conquest of Harran

In al-Baladhuri: Iyad marched on Harran, halting at Ajda and sending his vanguard ahead — its people shut the gates against them, and when he invested it the Harranian faction among them sent word that they held part of the city and asked him to make for al-Ruha so they could compound with him secretly and leave him and the Christians apart; the Christians heard, consented to what the Harranians offered and outbid it, so he went to al-Ruha whose people had gathered, shot at the Muslims a while, sent out their fighters whom the Muslims routed back into the city, and soon sued for peace and aman; another report has Iyad finding Harran empty — its people removed to al-Ruha — so when al-Ruha fell they compounded for their city from within it on the like of its treaty; he compounded with Harran on the like of al-Ruha's terms, they opened its gates, he set a man over it and went on to Sumaysat where Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal and Habib ibn Maslama held villages and forts, its people compounding likewise — Sumaysat later apostatised and he returned and besieged it till he took it — and he came to Saruj, Ra's Kayfa and the White Land, mastering its land and compounding with its fort-dwellers on al-Ruha's terms.

The Jazira

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The Conquest of Harran