Siege of Wasit

The siege of Wasit involved the army of the Abbasid revolution under al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba and the future Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, and the Umayyad garrison of Wasit under the last Umayyad governor of Iraq, Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra. Yazid had been forced to abandon Kufa due to a rebellion by Abbasid sympathizers, and fled to Wasit, where he was besieged for 11 months, from August/September 749 to his surrender in June/July 750. The siege was marked by constant sallies and attacks. The defenders bombarded the Abbasid forces with stones hurled from mangonels within the city, while the Abbasids attempted to destroy a pontoon bridge connecting the two parts of Wasit across the river. The defenders used small boats and hooks to tow away the fireships sent against it. Fighting also took place at night along the walls and towers lining the moat, where the defenders lit torches to illuminate the attackers. Meanwhile, the elderly Umayyad commander Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra observed the fighting from a tower above the Bab al-Khallalin gate. As the siege continued, the Umayyad garrison's resistance gradually crumbled, with the final defenders reportedly consisting of fityan and saʿalik, perhaps referring to regular soldiers loyal to Ibn Hubayra and local mercenaries or irregulars. After news of the defeat of the Umayyad caliph Marwan II at the Battle of the Zab and the Abbasid conquest of Syria arrived at Wasit, defections began. Yazid nevertheless held out for a few more months, until he received a pardon for himself and his followers from the Abbasid caliph al-Saffah. Nevertheless, Yazid and his senior officers were executed soon after on al-Saffah's orders.