 The only question was timing.The opportunity arose sometime in late 739 or early 740 (122 AH), when the powerful Ifriqiyan general Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri, who had recently been imposing his authority on the Sous valley of southern Morocco, received instructions from the Kairouan governor Ubayd Allah to lead a large expedition across the sea against Byzantine Sicily.Gathering his forces, Habib ibn Abi Obeida marched the bulk of the Ifriqiyan army out of Morocco.