Zemar eventually fell into the hands of Ebed-Asherah and his sons, its prefect Khayapa or Khaip being slain during the assault.  Abimelech, the governor of Tyre, accuses Zimridi of having been the cause.  Whether this were so or not, it placed the whole of Northern Phoenicia under the government or the influence of the Amorite chiefs.  If Rib-Hadad spoke the truth, Ebed-Asherah had “sent to the soldiers in Bit-Ninip, saying, ’Gather yourselves together, and let us march up against Gebal, if therein are any who have saved themselves from our hands, and we will appoint governors throughout all the provinces;’ so all the provinces went over to the Beduin.”  Provisions began to be scarce in Gebal, and the governor writes to Egypt for corn.

Rib-Hadad now threatened the Pharaoh with deserting to his enemies if succour was not forth-coming immediately, and at the same time he appealed to Amon-apt and Khayapa, the Egyptian commissioners who had been sent to inquire into the condition of affairs in Canaan.  The appeal was so far successful that troops were despatched to Zemar.  But it was too late:  along with Arka it had already been occupied by Ebed-Asherah, who thereupon writes to the Pharaoh, protesting his loyalty to Khu-n-Aten, declaring that he is “the house-dog” of the king, and that he guards the land of the Amorites for “the king” his lord.  He further calls on the Egyptian commissioner Pakhanate, who had been ordered to visit him, to bear witness that he was “defending” Zemar and its fields for the king.  That Pakhanate was friendly to Ebed-Asherah may be gathered from a despatch of Rib-Hadad, in which he accuses that officer of refusing to send any troops to the relief of Gebal, and of looking on while Zemar fell.  Ebed-Asherah goes on to beg the king to come himself, and see with his own eyes how faithful a governor he really was.

The letters of Abimelech of Tyre told a different tale, and the unfortunate Pharaoh might well be excused if he was as much puzzled as we are to know on which side the truth lay, or whether indeed it lay on either.  Abimelech had a grievance of his own.  As soon as Zimridi of Sidon learned that he had been appointed governor of Tyre, he seized the neighbouring city of Usu, which seems to have occupied the site of Palaetyros on the mainland, thereby depriving the Tyrians of their supplies of wood, food, and fresh water.  The city of Tyre was at the time confined to a rocky island, to which provisions and water had to be conveyed in boats.  Hence the hostile occupation of the town on the mainland caused many of its inhabitants to die of want.  To add to their difficulties, the city was blockaded by the combined fleet of Sidon, Arvad, and Aziru.  Ilgi, “king of Sidon,” seems to have fled to Tyre for protection, while Abimelech reports that the king of Hazor had joined the Beduin under Ebed-Asherah and his sons.  It may be noted that a letter of this very king of Hazor has been preserved, as well as another from Ebed-Sullim, the Egyptian governor of the city, whose powers were co-extensive with those of the king.