The Battle of Vardanakert was fought between an Arab garrison and Armenians in January 703.

[1][2] The Armenian prince Smbat VI Bagratuni defeated the 5,000-strong Umayyad army from the garrison in Nakhichevan.

[3] Struck by a surprise attack, the remaining Arabs fled to the river Araxes and either drowned or froze to death.

[3] Smbat, chosen to rule by Byzantine commission, managed to re-conquer the majority of Armenia and drive the Arabs out of the country.

[a] Muslim control was secured by organizing a large-scale massacre of the princely families (nakharar) within the cathedral of Nakhchivan, which was burned, in 704.