هَزَمَ الْأَمِيرُ الْجُنْدَ
The commander defeated the army.
The defeat is grammatically attributed to the commander. He might have directly participated, or his army might have achieved victory under his leadership. Both linguistic convention and particular context matter.
Before declaring the statement figurative, we should ask whether Arabic customary usage properly attributes collective action to a commander, and what indication is available in the specific utterance. Neither assuming complete personal performance nor assuming figurative attribution in every instance is justified.