 The Andalusian ruler Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri, wary that the presence of the Syrians in Al-Andalus would only aggravate matters, refused them passage across the water.Indeed, he forbade any relief of the stranded Syrians, going so far as to publicly torture to death an Andalusian merchant who had dared to dispatch a couple of grain boats to Ceuta to feed the desperate Syrians.But news soon reached the Andalusian governor that the Berber rebel armies from the northwest had been organized and were now barreling south in three columns, towards Toledo, Córdoba and Algeciras.