Mukhtar al-Thaqafi
Meanwhile, the Arab tribes of central and southern Syria, which remained loyal to the Umayyads, in cooperation with the ousted Umayyad governor of Iraq, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, chose Marwan I as caliph. The latter came from a different branch of the Umayyad clan that had been expelled from Medina. Afterward, the reinvigorated Umayyads defeated the pro-Zubayrid Qaysi tribes at the Battle of Marj Rahit near Damascus in 684 and took over Egypt by March 685. Marwan died that year and was succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik, who turned his attention toward Iraq. An Umayyad army led by Ibn Ziyad was dispatched to the province, but was soundly defeated at the Battle of Khazir in August 686 by the forces of a third rival claimant to the caliphate, the pro-Alid nobleman of Kufa, Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. The Umayyad defeat delayed Abd al-Malik's plans to conquer Iraq and he shifted focus to consolidating control of Syria and the Jazira and winning over the Arab tribal nobility in Iraq.