Khalid ibn Abi Habib encountered the Berber rebel army in the outskirts of Tangiers, and after a couple of skirmishes, forced them to pull back.[2] As per the instructions he was given, Khalid held his position south of Tangiers, awaiting the reinforcements from Sicily. But before junction could be made, the Berber rebel army, under a new commander, Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati, fell upon the Arab column in October/November 740. Khalid ibn Abi Habib and his column, the flower of the Ifriqiyan nobility, was annihilated by the Berbers in what became known as the Battle of the Nobles.