To make up for the losses and shore up the depleted army of Khurasan, the Umayyads were forced to resort to mobilizing some 20,000 Iraqis and sending them to Khurasan, a potentially very dangerous move and a sign of desperation.[44] The Iraqis were notoriously hostile to the Umayyad regime, and had been demilitarized and subject to virtual occupation by Syrian troops since c. 700.[45] Junayd was forced to levy 15,000 native troops to deal with the emergency.[40][46]