Following their success in the battles of Beersheba, Gaza, and Mughar Ridge, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was pursuing the retreating Turkish forces north. The New Zealanders, part of the ANZAC Mounted Division, were on the division's left heading towards Rishon LeZion, when nine miles (14 km) south of Jaffa they encountered the Turkish rearguard on the edge of sand dunes to the west of the villages of Surafend el Harab and Ayun Kara. The Turkish forces consisted of around 1,500 infantry, supported by machine-guns and artillery.