מלכים ב, פרק ט״ז, פסוק ט׳

The King of Assyria's willingness to answer the call for military help aligned perfectly with his own imperial ambitions. The Assyrian kings already planned to gradually conquer the entire region, a goal of expansion that would eventually reach as far as Egypt [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. While the Assyrian king did launch a military campaign, the Book of Chronicles notes that this intervention ultimately brought distress rather than strength to the king who requested it. This apparent contradiction is resolved by looking at the actual scope of the assistance. The Assyrian forces only eliminated the immediate threat posed by the king of Aram. They left the local king completely weak and defenseless against other surrounding enemies who attacked at the same time, such as the Edomites and the Philistines [מלבי״ם].

As the military campaign unfolded, the King of Assyria advanced on Damascus and successfully captured the city [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Following the conquest, the Assyrian king forcibly relocated the inhabitants of Damascus. The primary approach among commentators is that these people were exiled to a distant northern country or district known as Kir, which was part of the Assyrian territory. This specific act of exiling the Aramean population to Kir served as the direct fulfillment of an earlier vision by the prophet Amos, who foretold that the people of Aram would be banished to this exact location by the word of God [רד״ק].