Sawad in the context of "Lakhmid kingdom"

Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf.

In the Middle Ages it was also known as the Sawad and al-Jazira al-sflia ("Lower Jazira"), which strictly speaking designated only the southern alluvial plain, and Arab Iraq, as opposed to Persian Iraq, the Jibal. Lower Mesopotamia was home to Sumer and Babylonia.

The Battle of Karbala (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة كَرْبَلَاء, romanized: Maʿrakat Karbalāʾ) was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, at Karbala, Sawad (modern-day southern Iraq).

Prior to his death, the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) had nominated his son Yazid as his successor. Yazid's nomination was contested by the sons of a few prominent companions of Muhammad, including Husayn, son of the fourth caliph Ali, and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, son of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam. Upon Mu'awiya's death in 680, Yazid demanded allegiance from Husayn and other dissidents. Husayn did not give allegiance and traveled to Mecca. The people of Kufa, an Iraqi garrison town and the center of Ali's caliphate, were averse to the Syria-based Umayyad caliphs and had a long-standing attachment to the house of Ali. They proposed Husayn overthrow the Umayyads. On Husayn's way to Kufa with a retinue of about 70 men, his caravan was intercepted by a 1,000-strong army of the caliph at some distance from Kufa. He was forced to head north and encamp in the plain of Karbala on 2 October, where a larger Umayyad army of 4,000 arrived soon afterwards. Negotiations failed after the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad refused Husayn safe passage without submitting to his authority, a condition declined by Husayn. Battle ensued on 10 October during which Husayn was killed along with most of his relatives and companions, while his surviving family members were taken prisoner. The battle was the start of the Second Fitna, during which the Iraqis organized two separate campaigns to avenge the death of Husayn; the first one by the Tawwabin and the other one by Mukhtar al-Thaqafi and his supporters.

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.

Sa'id ibn al-As ibn Abi Uhayha (Arabic: سعيد بن العاص بن أبي أحيحة, romanized: Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀs ibn Abī Uḥayḥa; died 678/679) was the Arab Muslim governor of Kufa under Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656) and governor of Medina under Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680). Like the aforementioned caliphs, Sa'id belonged to the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh.

During his governorship of Kufa, Sa'id led military campaigns in Azerbaijan and near the Caspian Sea. However, he had to contend with dissent from some of the Kufan elite, led by Malik ibn al-Harith. The dissent was largely driven by Sa'id and Uthman's policy of consolidating ownership of the productive Sawad lands of Iraq into the hands of the Quraysh and Muslim veterans from Medina. Sa'id had the dissidents exiled, but during a visit to Medina, rebels in Kufa led by Yazid ibn Qays al-Arhabi took control of the city.

The Battle of Dhi Qar (Arabic: يوم ذي قار), also known as the War of the Camel's Udder, was a pre-Islamic battle fought between Arab tribes and the Sasanian Empire in Southern Iraq. The battle occurred after the death of Al-Nu'man III by the orders of Khosru II.

The dating of the event is disputed. The Encyclopædia Iranica entry on the subject says: