162 Peter Dubovsk´ y First, Tiglath-pileser III did not attack the epicenters of the rebellion (Damascus and Samaria) in a direct confrontation at the very beginning of his intervention but aimed his first campaign (14th palû) at conquering Tyre and coastal Philistia. Such an unexpected strategy caught Tyre and coastal Philistia off guard and Tiglath-pileser III quickly gained a strong foothold on the Mediterranean coast (29). Since the Assyrian army leaned heavily on its chariotry and cavalry, the decision to attack the coastal region first took into consideration the fact that the flat coastal terrain would allow the fast advance of Assyrian troops. This would not have been the case, if Tiglath-pileser III had decided to move his army through Israelite hills. Only after this Blitzkrieg did Tiglath-pileser III venture on his first attack against the epicenter of the coalition — Damascus. After winning the field battle, he cut down the trees and captured 591 cities of the 16 districts of Damascus; however, he was unable to capture the Aramean capital. The strategy of cutting down the trees was well known in the ancient Near East and intended to cut off the rebels’ food supply (30). Operating in the environs of Damascus Tiglath-pileser III launched a surprise attack against Arabian queen Samsi which threw her camp into a panic and thus he gained another victory. Taking advantage of the impact which this unexpected victory made on the rest of the Arabian tribes, he generously accepted their submission (Summ. 13:8’-15’). As a result of this surprise attack and submission of the Arabian tribes, the coalition lost their control over the desert. Besides the Arabian tribes the Transjordanian kingdoms — Edom, Moab, and Amon — also paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser III (Summ. 7:r.10’-13’). Thus, Tiglath-pileser III was able to form a semicircle with his allies (Philistia-Judah-Edom-Moab-Amon-Gilead) surround- ing the Ephraimite part of the rebellious coalition. This enclave separated Syro-Ephraimite coalition from its major support — Egypt (31). This was achieved above all by the conquest of Gaza. Thus, Tiglath-pileser III blocked off the easiest access road along which the (29) N. NA’AMAN, “Two Notes on the History of Ashkelon and Ekron in the Late Eighth-Seventh Centuries B.C.E”., TA 25 (1998) 222. (30) S.W. COLE, “The Destruction of Orchards in Assyrian Warfare”, Assyria 1995. Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project Helsinki, September 7-11, 1995 (ed. R.M. WHITING) (Helsinki 1997) 29-40. (31) NA’AMAN, “Two Notes”, 222.