Urartu reemerges in Assyrian inscriptions in the ninth century BCE as a powerful northern rival.

The Assyrians’ chief adversaries, the Aramaeans, have now settled in Syria.

Under Shalmaneser III, Ashurbanipal’s son and successor, the Assyrians finally manage to conquer Bit-Adini (Beth-Eden), the most powerful Aramaean state on the upper Euphrates.

A short-lived coalition of Levantine and Syrian states, led by Damascus and including Israel, checks Assyria’s westward designs.