Once Abd-ar-Rahman III came to power, he was quick to assert his power and made it his goal to finish the rebels in Al-Andalus. He wanted to consolidate his power base and reestablish the internal order of the Emirate of Córdoba. He decided to go to the border and attack the cities that acted as a protective buffer against the Asturian / Leonese lands to the north. It was on this defensive line that he came upon Zamora. The city was strategically important because it was squarely in the path of march typically used by the Leonese troops. Abderraman attacked the city on August 5, 939. His strategy was to fill the pit, or moat around the city with bodies and debris so that his men could more easily climb the parapets and thus engage the defending soldiers directly. This bloodthirsty strategy