The Battle of Qarqar, a city in the Orontes Valley, was fought in 853 BCE between the Assyrian army led by Shalmaneser III (859-824) and a coalition of Levantine kingdoms (Hama, Damascus, Israel, and several Phoenician cities) aided by Egyptian soldiers and an Arab contingent. The battle was not the great victory the Assyrian king claimed it to be. It was, at best, indecisive.