 From then onward, Abd al-Malik and his immediate successors attempted to balance the interests of the Qays and Yaman in the Umayyad court and army.This represented a break from the preceding seven years, during which the Yaman, and particularly the Kalb, were the dominant force of the army.With threats in Syria and the Jazira neutralized, Abd al-Malik was free to focus on the reconquest of Iraq.