Al-Qaysī (1) related: The army left Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān with his cavalry in Damascus and set out (2) for Fiḥl. The troops already stationed in the Ghawr were under the command of Shurahbīl ibn Ḥasana, who appointed Khālid ibn al-Walīd over the vanguard, Abū ʿUbaydah over the right wing, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ over the left, Ḍirār ibn al-Azwar over the cavalry, and ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm over the infantry.

They reached Fiḥl—a town in the Ghawr—while the Byzantines had withdrawn to Baysān. The enemy then released the waters of the surrounding fields, flooding the land between themselves and the Muslims. The Muslims wrote to ʿUmar, informing him of their steadfast confrontation with the enemy and of the stratagem the Byzantines had employed; nevertheless, they also reported that the Muslims were living in comfort, receiving abundant reinforcements, and were fully prepared for battle.

The overall commander was Shurahbīl ibn Ḥasana, who never passed a night or a morning without keeping the troops in formation. The Byzantines assumed the Muslims were off their guard, so one night they mounted a surprise attack under their leader Siqlāb (3) ibn Mukhraaq. They burst upon the Muslim camp, but the Muslims rose (4) as one man—always being ready for combat—and fought them until dawn, and then throughout the entire day until nightfall. When darkness deepened, the Byzantines fled, their commander Siqlāb was killed, and the Muslims pressed hard upon their heels. Their flight drove them into the very morass (5) they had prepared for the Muslims, and Allah drowned them in it. The Muslims, thrusting with their lances, killed nearly eighty thousand of them; only scattered fugitives escaped. They then seized vast spoils and great wealth.

Abū ʿUbaydah and Khālid marched with the forces under them toward Ḥimṣ, as ordered by the Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. Abū ʿUbaydah appointed Shurahbīl ibn Ḥasana over the Jordan district. Shurahbīl, accompanied by ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, advanced and besieged Baysān. Its people sallied out against him; he inflicted a heavy slaughter, after which they sued for peace on the same terms granted to Damascus. He levied the jizyah and imposed the land tax (6) upon their lands, and Abū al-Aʿwar al-Sulamī dealt with the people of Tiberias in exactly the same manner.

Section on the fighting that was taking place at that time (7) in the lands of Iraq

We have already noted that when al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah remained behind after Khālid departed from Iraq with those who accompanied him to al-Shām—some say they numbered nine thousand, others three thousand, others seven hundred, and still others fewer than that, yet they were the champions of the Iraqi army—al-Muthannā stayed with those who remained. He found their numbers too small and feared the might of the Persians, were it not for their preoccupation with replacing their kings and queens. Al-Muthannā grew anxious at the delay in news from al-Ṣiddīq, so he travelled to Madinah and found al-Ṣiddīq in his final illness. He informed him of the situation in Iraq, and al-Ṣiddīq advised