Battle·Abbasid
Battle of the Zab
- Date
- 25 January 750 CE132 AH1,276 years ago
- Place
- Great Zab River, northern Iraq
- People
- Abdallah ibn Ali, Marwan II
Abbasid forces under Abdallah ibn Ali defeated the army of Umayyad caliph Marwan II near the Great Zab River in northern Iraq on 25 January 750 CE. The battle ended the main Umayyad resistance in Iraq. Marwan fled west and was later caught and killed in Egypt. Most accounts of the battle come from later Abbasid-era historians.
Why it matters
The defeat ended the main Umayyad army in Iraq and cleared the way for Abbasid control of the caliphate.