Relief of Qasr al-Bahili

Relief of Qasr al-Bahili
Part of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana
Map of Khurasan and Transoxiana in the 8th century
Date AD 720/721 Location Unknown location,[1] near Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan or Tajikistan) Result Successful evacuation of Qasr al-Bahili
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate	Türgesh Khaganate
Commanders and leaders
al-Musayyab al-Riyahi	Kursul
Strength
100 families in the fort, c. 1,000 men in the relief force	10.000

The Relief of Qasr al-Bahili was the successful relief of the Arab garrison of the small fortress of Qasr al-Bahili from the siege by the Turkic Türgesh Khaganate. Sent by the Umayyad Caliphate's governor of Khurasan, an Arab relief force under al-Musayyab ibn Bishr al-Riyahi managed to break the siege and escort the garrison to safety in Samarkand.

The siege marked the beginning of the Türgesh invasion of Transoxiana, which the Arabs had only recently subdued, and which became a battleground between the two empires for the following two decades.^[2]