Battle of Ayn al-Tamr
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Battle of Ayn al-Tamr | |||||||
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Part of Muslim conquest of Persia and Campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid | |||||||
Al-Razzaza Lake in Ain Al-Tamr | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Rashidun Caliphate |
Sasanian Empire[4] Arab Christians[5] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Khalid ibn al-Walid |
Mihran Bahram-i Chubin (MIA) Aqqa ibn Qays ibn Bashir (POW), later executed | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
500-800[Notes 1][6] | Unknown number, although it consisted of a "great" following of Arab Christian tribes and Sassanian "mobile troops". At least tens of thousand[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Entire field army executed Persian garrison defenders of the town slaughtered[2] |
The Battle of Ayn al-Tamr (Arabic: معركة عين التمر) took place in modern-day Iraq (Mesopotamia) between the early Muslim Arab forces and the Sassanians along with their Arab Christian auxiliary forces. Ayn al-Tamr is located west of Anbar and was a frontier post which had been established to aid the Sassanids.[7]
The Muslims under Khalid ibn al-Walid's command soundly defeated the Sassanian auxiliary force, which included large numbers of non-Muslim Arabs who broke earlier covenants with the Muslims.[8] According to William Muir, Khalid ibn al-Walid captured the Arab Christian commander, Aqqa ibn Qays ibn Bashir, with his own hands,[9] which matched the accounts of both Ibn Atheer in his Usd al-ghabah fi marifat al-Saḥabah, and Tabari in his Tarikh.[1][2]