[1][5] Zaz is identified as the settlement of Zazabukha, where the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II made camp whilst on campaign against Nairi and received tribute from Khabkhi in 879 BC.

[11] After receiving assurances the villagers wouldn't be harmed, 365/366 Assyrians left the buildings, but were taken by the Kurds to a hill named Perbume between Zaz and Heştrek and slaughtered.

[11] One group was sent to Kerboran, and the other was sent to Midyat, where they were forced to collect and bury the corpses of Assyrians who had been killed in the streets of those places, as well as pick up animal faeces.

[4] In the early 1990s, there were skirmishes between paramilitaries, the Turkish military, and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants near the village as part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

[17][18] It was reported that Kurds from neighbouring villages had seized the Assyrians' houses and land, damaged the church by pouring sewage into it, and verbally and physically abused the monk and nun.