Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar in the context of "Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad"

The Battle of Khazir (Arabic: يوم الخازر, romanized: Yawm Khāzir) took place in August 686 near the Khazir River in Mosul's eastern environs, in modern-day Iraq. The battle occurred during the Second Muslim Civil War and was part of the larger struggle for control of Iraq between the Syria-based Umayyad Caliphate, the Kufa-based pro-Alid forces of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, and the Mecca-based caliphate of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. It ended with the Umayyads being routed and the expansion of Mukhtar's rule into the region of Mosul.

The Muslim civil war left the Umayyad realm restricted to Damascus and its environs after most of their territories came under Ibn al-Zubayr's orbit. However, an Umayyad resurgence began with the accession of Caliph Marwan I, who dispatched an army led by Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad to reconquer Iraq. This army's advance into Mosul precipitated the Battle of Khazir and its commander, Ubayd Allah, was an enemy of Mukhtar's pro-Alid partisans. Thus, Mukhtar quickly moved to halt the Umayyad advance, sending his Persian mawālī-dominated forces led by Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar to confront the predominantly Syrian Arab army of the Umayyads. During the initial combat, part of Ibn al-Ashtar's forces were put to flight, but then regrouped under his command and charged against the Umayyad center. This resulted in heavy casualties on both sides and Ubayd Allah and several of his lieutenants were slain. The Umayyad commander Umayr ibn al-Hubab and his Sulaymi tribesmen deserted while the pro-Alids pursued the remaining Umayyad troops, scores of whom drowned in the Khazir River.

The battles of Madhar and Harura (Arabic transliteration: Yawm Madhār and Yawm Ḥarūrāʾ) successively took place in the latter half of 686 in the environs of Basra and Kufa, respectively, both in southern Iraq. The battles were fought between the forces of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, the governor of Basra on behalf of his brother Caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr who later joined the Battle as re-inforcement(r. 683–692), and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, the pro-Alid ruler of Kufa. They ended with the latter's decisive defeat and the slaying of most of his commanders. In the immediate aftermath, Mus'ab besieged and killed Mukhtar in Kufa, sanctioned the killing of thousands of his sympathizers in the city, and annexed Kufa and its dependencies, i.e. the Sawad (Lower Mesopotamia) and Jibal (northwestern Iran). Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, Mukhtar's governor over Mosul and its dependencies, i.e. the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), Adharbayjan, and Arminiya, afterward defected to Mus'ab. In effect, all of Iraq came under Zubayrid authority as a result of Mus'ab's victory.

The Battle of Maskin (Arabic: معركة مسكن), also known as the Battle of Dayr al-Jathaliq (Arabic: معركة دير الجثاليق) from a nearby Nestorian monastery, was a decisive battle of the Second Fitna (680s-690s). It was fought in mid-October 691 near present-day Baghdad on the western bank of the river Tigris, between the army of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and the forces of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, governor of Iraq for his brother, the Mecca-based rival caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.

When the battle started, most of Mus'ab's troops refused to fight, having secretly switched allegiance to Abd al-Malik, and Mus'ab's main commander, Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, was killed in action. Mus'ab was slain soon afterward, resulting in the Umayyads' victory and recapture of Iraq, which opened the way for the Umayyad reconquest of the Hejaz (western Arabia) in late 692.