At a later point in the war, a spy for Muhammad b. 'Abdallah reported that the besieging armies on the East and West sides of Baghdad totaled 19,000 men, and that al-Mu'tazz had very few additional troops to put in the field, since Samarra had been almost completely emptied of soldiers. Major events of the war Fighting during the war lasted for slightly less than a year, with hostile engagements occurring everywhere from the Jazira in the north to the borders of Khuzestan in the southeast. Most of the battles of the war, however, took place in Iraq; specifically at Baghdad, where al-Musta'in had made his residence, and the districts surrounding the city. Baghdad For the first few days after the arrival of Abu Ahmad and his army before the gates of Baghdad, the two sides refrained from directly engaging each other in combat. On March 14, Muhammad b. 'Abdallah approached the enemy camp and called on the Samarrans to depart; if they did, he guaranteed that al-Musta'in would recognize al-Mu'tazz as heir-apparent. If they refused to leave, however, Muhammad intended to initiate hostilities the following morning. The next day, the Samarrans approached the Shammasiyyah and Khorasan gates along the eastern wall and attempted to force their way through them. The Baghdadis responded by firing upon them with arrows, mangonels and ballistas, inflicting heavy casualties upon the attackers. At the Khorasan Gate, the Turks attempted to move up an artillery piece into firing range, but a charge by the regular and irregular Baghdadi forces dislodged the enemy from their position. By the end of the day, the Samarrans withdrew back to their camp; both sides had sustained hundreds of casualties from the fighting. On March 20 a second army sent from Samarra, consisting of 4,000 Turks, North Africans and Ferghanans, arrived in front of the western side of Baghdad and made camp near the Gates of the Fief and Qatrabbul. The next morning, Muhammad b. 'Abdallah ordered a large contingent of infantry and cavalry to battle them. At first the Samarrans had the upper hand, and were able to force the Baghdadis into a narrow area near the Gate of the Fief. Baghdadi reinforcements soon arrived, however, and the combined forces were able to drive the Samarrans back. Having gained the initiative, the defenders charged and forced the Samarrans to retreat to an area where yet another Baghdadi force lay