 It was fought between the Sanhadja Berber tribes resident in the area, led by Lamtuna Imam Nasr ad-Din, and the Maqil Arab immigrant tribes, foremost of which was the Beni Hassan.The war was led by Sidi Ibrahim Al Aroussi, son of the famous Cheikh Sidi Ahmed Al Aroussi (died in 1593, near to Smara, in Western Sahara).Al Aroussi, with his two sons Shanan Al Aroussi and Sidi Tounsi Al Aroussi, led a powerful force of the Hassani tribe, the Aroussi Army, to conquer the Berber Imarat in current Mauritania and gain access to Bilad as-Sudan (""the Land of the Blacks"", in Senegal and Mali).