The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest: Imperial Domination and Its Consequences.

He points out that the southern Levant, unlike other provinces of the empire, could not be conquered to provide additional sources of agricultural surplus for the empire's core as the transportation costs would have been too high due to the area's lack of a proper riverine system. However, concluding that the Assyrians completely neglected the southern Levant, leaving the provinces in a state of disarray and ignoring the reach revenues of the Mediterranean trade, seems far-fetched. Finally, Faust argues that the impact of the Assyrian empire in the southern Levant was more limited when compared with other provinces. While the Assyrian provinces of north Mesopotamia and north Syria were included in the empire's orbit quite early at the start of the Assyrian expansion, the Kingdom of Israel, and the southern Levant in general, became part of the imperial provincial and client state systems much later. [Extracted from the article]