Excerpt from 'Maqtal al-Husayn':
[In Shaam]
Yazid was very happy about killing al-Husayn (‘a) and those with him as well as the capture of the ladies who descended from the Messenger of Allah, peace of Allah be upon him and his progeny.
He was seen at his court looking very excited, paying no heed to the fact that he was an atheist and an apostate as testified by his citing the poetry of al-Zub’ari quoted above to the extent that he denied that the Messenger of Allah Muhammad (S) had ever received any revelation.
But when he was rebuked by more and more people, it gradually appeared to him how he had failed and erred in what he had committed: a sin the like of which had never been committed by anyone belonging to the Islamic creed.
It was then that he realized the implication of Mu’awiyah's will to him wherein he said, 'The people of Iraq shall not leave al-Husayn till they pressure him to revolt. If he rebels against you, forgive him, for he was begotten in sacred wombs, and he enjoys a lofty status'.
His closest courtiers, and even his family members and women, stayed away from him. He saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears the statements uttered by the most sacred severed head when he ordered the envoy of the Roman emperor to be killed: La hawla wala quwwata illa billah! (There is neither power nor might except in Allah).
Yazid's most abominable crime and extreme cruelty were now being discussed at every gathering, and such discussions were finding an echo throughout Damascus. Yazid, at that juncture, had no choice except to shift the blame to the shoulder of [‘Ubaydullah] Ibn Ziyad in order to distance the taunting from him, but what is already established cannot be removed.