The new caliph has succeeded in gaining control of Damascus and Syria, but elsewhere his authority ranges from theoretical to nonexistent.
In Iraq, this turmoil spills over in the form of a struggle between Yazid III's governor Abdallah ibn Umar and Marwan's appointee, al-Nadr ibn Sa'id al-Harashi.
This conflict has allowed the Kharijites, a Muslim sect which had originated in Mesopotamia, to rise up.
This revolt was initially led by Sa'id ibn Bahdal, but he died soon of the plague, and has been succeeded by Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani, who quickly assembles a sizable army, and manages to defeat the two rival governors, who had joined forces, in April/May 745.
In the aftermath of their defeat, al-Harashi returns to Marwan and Abdallah ibn Umar retreats to the fortress of Wasit, where he is soon besieged.
In August, however, ibn Umar gives himself up, and, in an unprecedented act for a member of the Umayyad dynasty and of the Prophet's own Quraysh tribe, does homage to Dahhak, who is neither and who has by now been declared caliph by his followers.
