Iyad ibn Ghanm
Afterward, he became a close military aide of his cousin and nephew, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, under whose direction Iyad conquered much of Byzantine-held northern Syria, including Aleppo, Manbij and Cyrrhus.
[7] In 637, Iyad was made governor of al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) by Caliph Umar (r. 634–644),[9] but was dismissed by the latter due to allegations that he had used his office to accept gifts or bribes.
[10] Afterward, he became a close aide and lieutenant commander of his paternal cousin and maternal nephew, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, who had military authority over Syria.
[5] Iyad, who was sanctioned by Abu Ubayda to negotiate on his behalf, agreed to the proposed terms guaranteeing the safety of Aleppo's inhabitants and properties, but with the condition that a site be made available for the construction of a mosque.
[13] When Abu Ubayda died in 639, Caliph Umar appointed Iyad in his place as the ʿamal (governor) of Hims, Qinnasrin (Chalcis) and al-Jazira with directions to conquer the latter territory from its Byzantine commanders because they had refused to pay the tributes promised to the Muslims in 638.
[14] He encountered resistance from its defenders,[14] prompting him to withdraw and send smaller units to make raids around Raqqa, seizing captives and harvests.
[25] About the same time, Iyad besieged Samosata in response to a rebellion, the nature of which is not specified by al-Baladhuri,[27] and stationed a small garrison in Edessa after the city's inhabitants violated their terms of surrender.
[23] After Samosata, al-Baladhuri, who gives a detailed but triumphalist account of the Mesopotamian campaign, maintains that Iyad subdued a string of villages "on the same terms" as Edessa's surrender.
[24] Between the end of 639 and December 640, Iyad and his lieutenants subdued, in succession, Circesium (al-Qarqisiya), Amid, Mayyafariqin, Nisibin, Tur Abdin, Mardin, Dara, Qarda and Bazabda.
[28] In contrast to al-Baladhuri's passive account of Iyad's capture of Dara, 10th-century historian Agapius of Hierapolis wrote that many were slain on both sides, particularly among the Muslims, but the city ultimately fell after a negotiated surrender.
[27] The operation to capture that city entailed positioning cavalry forces near its entrances, preventing its defenders and residents from leaving or rural refugees from entering.
[27] In the agreements he reached with the patricians of Raqqa, Edessa, Harran and Samosata, payments came in various forms, including cash, wheat, oil, vinegar, honey, labor services to maintain roads and bridges, and guides and intelligence for the Muslim newcomers.
[32] In the view of Petersen, Iyad's campaign partially diverted the Byzantines' attention away from the Muslims' central offensive against Syria's port cities and the province of Egypt, while also "demonstrating to the Armenian nobility that the Caliphate had become a viable alternative to the Persian Empire".
