After the failure of Muawiyah's mission in Basra, he decided to undertake raids on Iraq with a view to create a sense of insecurity among the people of Iraq in general, and the people living in the border areas in particular. Muawiyah organized raiding parties under different commanders, and these parties were commanded to undertake raids in the territory of Iraq all along the border. A party under the command of No'man b Bashir was asked to ravage Ayn Tamr. A party under Sufyan b Auf was required to operate against Hit and Anbar. The third party under Abdullah b Masa'ada al Fazari was commanded to operate in the Taima section. Another party under Zohak b Qais raided Upper Mesopotamia. The purpose of these raids was to ravage and plunder. As a result of these raids, the Syrians gathered considerable booty. These parties appeared as a whirlwind and after striking blows, and ravaging the countryside they withdrew to their territory. Ali strengthened the border security guard force. As a result of these raids, the Syrians were not able to occupy any area in Iraq, but such inroads had a considerable nuisance value, and proved to be a great drain on the meager financial resources at the disposal of Ali. Even when there were disturbances along the border, the people of Kufa remained indifferent, and they did not respond to Ali's call to rise en masse in defense of their territories. It was with great difficulty that Ali managed to raise some force to defend the border, but its strength was very small as compared with the extent of the danger that faced the State.
