 While in Spain, Ibn Habib involved himself in the conflicts which immediately erupted between the commanders of the defeated army (the Syrian regiments or )), and the resident governor, Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri.When the Syrian commander Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri tortured and executed the elderly Ibn Qatan, a Fihrid relative, Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib openly broke with the Syrians and joined the Andalusian ("baladi") party.Ibn Habib participated in the Battle of Aqua Portora in August 740 and it was claimed by at least one chronicler (Ibn al-Khatam) that he sought out and fatally wounded Balj in the heat of battle (although the chronicler may have confused Ibn Habib with another Abd al-Rahman, Ibn al-Qama al-Lakhmi, the governor of Narbonne and commander of the Andalusians).