The generals, however, were empowered as the newly created Dark Eight.

This council runs the

Blood War from Nessus, the lowest level of Hell.
The pit fiend Bel, after running successful covert ops missions during the Blood War under the
command of the Dark Eight, became Zariel’s right-hand man in Avernus. He then betrayed and
imprisoned her, rendering her powerless.
Note: Describing Zariel as the “original Lord of Avernus” might seem in direct
contradiction to Tiamat having held that position before. This is most likely intended as
a straight-up retcon, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be so: My head canon is that
Zariel, the original Lord of Avernus, has been intermittently deposed from time to time
over the course of long eons, including stints by both Tiamat and Bel.

MANUAL OF THE PLANES (3rd EDITION, 2001)

The references to Avernus in the Manual of the Planes are largely a very short
summary of the material from Guide to Hell, but there’s one addition to the
mythology: “Bel still keeps Zariel prisoner somewhere deep in the Bronze Citadel so
that he can siphon her hellish power to himself, increasing his own abilities while
slowly reducing her to just another soul shell.”