 Habib and Balj bickered and the armies nearly came to blows.By smooth diplomacy, Kulthum ibn Iyad managed hold the armies together, but the mutual resentments would play a role in subsequent events.The Berber rebel army, under the leadership of Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati (perhaps jointly with a certain Salim Abu Yusuf al-Azdi ), while boasting great numbers (some 200,000), were very poorly equipped.