7th Century Middle East Battle Revealed by US Spy Satellite

Why did he spy on Iraq? Public documents from the State Department and the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) from 1972 reveal that agents assessed that Iraq maintained friendly ties with the Soviets and was “cold” in relation to its neighboring countries such as Iran and the Arab States, opposed peace between Arabs and Israelis and was hostile to the United States.

The battlefield

The researchers were originally studying the Darb Zubaydah, a pilgrimage route to Mecca that runs from Kufa, Iraq. The study was part of the Eamena project (Endangered Archeology in the Middle East and North Africa) conducted by the universities of Oxford, Leicester and Durham, in the United Kingdom. The area is a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status.

By analyzing points with pilgrim stations on the route, scholars realized that they corresponded to descriptions in historical texts of places where famous battles took place during the Islamic conquest of the Middle East. One of the most important of these is the battle of al-Qadisiyyah, which took place between 635 and 638 AD (dates differ, according to historians). The conflict ended with a crucial victory for the Muslims in the conquest of territories beyond Arabia — which belonged to the Sasanian Empire, the last Persian empire.