at first there was a large population of akhbārī activists at the shrine cities of iraq but it was bihbahani who, at the end of the 18th century, reversed this and completely routed the akhbārīs at karbala and najaf. south iraq, bahrain and a few cities in iran such as kirman remained akhbārī strongholds for a few more decades but eventually the usuli triumph was complete and only a handful of shī‘a ulamā' remained akhbārī to the present day.