Bayn al-Haramayn or, Bayn al-Ḥaramayn, also transliterated as Bainul Haramain, is the area between the Imam Husaain Shrine and al-Abbas Shrine, which is a distance of 378 meters. It is said to be the exact place where the fighting in the Battle of Karbala took place. In the past, the area was not an empty space between the two shrines; rather it was divided into a single main street and a number of alleyways, with residential and commercial buildings. During the Baathist era, the buildings between the two shrines were destroyed, and the area known today as Bayn al-Haramayn was formed. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the administration of the two shrines initiated a project of further developing the area, as well as the shrines to form a large unified precinct for the holy shrines of Karbala.