 As the governor Ibn Habib was looking for him, he then fled to the more powerful Zanata Berber confederacy, who were enemies of Ibn Habib.Since the Zanata had been part of the initial invasion force of al-Andalus, and were still present in the Iberian peninsula, this gave Abd ar-Rahman a base of support in al-Andalus.However, Abd ar-Rahman seems to have drawn most of his support from portions of Balj's army that were still loyal to the Umayyads.