Early on al-Samh captured Barcelona, and also Narbonne (720), extinguishing the vestigial Visigothic kingdom there[3] after leading an Umayyad incursion into current southern France.
After setting up his headquarters in Narbonne, military moves took an unexpected turn when Al-Samh returned to Al Andalus to gather more Arab troops prior to attacking the strongly defended Aquitanian capital city of Toulouse.
While the ultimate reasons remain obscure, it has been argued that Odo provided shelter to Visigothic elites and population fleeing the theater of war around the eastern Pyrenees.
The defenders, short of provisions, were close to breaking when, around June 9, 721, Odo the Great, the duke of Aquitaine, returned at the head of a large Aquitanian and Frankish force,[5] attacking al-Samh's rear and launching a highly successful encircling movement.
Caught between the Toulouse defenders and Eudes's men, al-Samh tried to break out, but was trapped with the bulk of his troops in a place that came to be called by Muslim chroniclers Balat al Shuhada ('the path of the martyrs') where he made a determined last stand as his army was decimated by Odo's forces.