He was active mostly in the Caliphate's northwestern frontier region, serving as governor of Arminiya and the Jazira and fighting against the Byzantine Empire and the Khazars.

Yazid was a member of the Banu Sulaym tribe, which had participated in the Muslim conquest of Armenia and been settled by the caliphs in the western Armenian borderlands with the Byzantine Empire.

[2][3] Al-Baladhuri further reports that his mother was a Christian, the daughter of the "Patrician of Siwnik", who had been taken captive during Muhammad ibn Marwan's campaigns.

The marriage indeed took place, but after two years the princess and her two children suddenly died, and the khagan suspected that she had been poisoned.

Yazid himself managed to escape capture, but the Khazars returned north with thousands of captives and much booty.