Persian leaders from the north and from the south (5)

'persian leaders' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'north and from the south' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'south' could be 's' (abbreviation) and 's' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'hahs' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'from the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?