The reaction is not long in coming.

Andalusian Arabs, rallied by Qattan and Umayya, the sons of the late Fihrid governor, take up arms against Balj ibn Bishr and the Syrian junds.

The Syrians deliver a decisive defeat upon the Andalusians at the Battle of Aqua Portora, outside of Córdoba on August 6, 742, but Balj ibn Bishr is mortally wounded in the process and dies two days later.

He is succeeded by his lieutenant and designated successor Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili.

The chronicler Ibn al-Khatam asserts Balj ibn Bishr was killed in the battle by Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri, the future ruler of Ifriqiya, who had accompanied the Syrians to al-Andalus, but defected to the Andalusians upon the execution of the Fihrid governor.

But this is likely confusion with Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qama al-Lakhmi, the Andalusian governor of Narbonne, who is reported elsewhere to have, in the heat of battle, as his army was falling apart, sought out Balj among the Syrian cavalry and struck him with his spear.