Whilst the Hittites desired the lands of Palestine and further territory of Syrian soil, none of their past three leaders up until this point dared to venture southward, for fear that it might open exposure to an Assyrian attack. Over time, in the same manner which led to an alliance with Babylonia, king Hattushil began politely treating with the minor kingdoms, creating many new friends in Syrian princes, each proudly ruling his own city since the expulsion of Egyptian dominance. Some of the more prominent places of his tour included Carchemish, Barga, Kadesh, Aleppo, and Arved, among others.
King Hattushil, a pragmatic strategist, knew that if he could not possess those lands, better to make them allies to the benefit of his people than to his chief rival, Assyria.
One such city-state was far more prestigious than the others mentioned, a rich city, Amurru, that Hattushil arranged to intermarry, in order to spread Hittite influence and encourage loyalty amongst the princes. These Syrian princes soon wisely understood their value in numbers and began negotiations with the Hittites and the other powers, together as one, in solidarity, a tradition that would be carried on in Syria's history henceforth.
Meanwhile in Babylonia, during the year 1277 B.C., a pivotal event took place with the death of king Kadashman-Turgu. This brought the Hittite-Kassite defensive alliance against Assyrian expansion into question. Given Babylon's history of having both Assyrian and Kassite ancestry on the throne, pro-Assyrian uprisings were beginning to take hold before a new king could be crowned. King Hattushil immediately rose to action.
Letters were dispatched and the Hittite king's most reliable riders and fiercest warriors sped across the trade-roads once proudly molded by Egyptian labor. These letters found their way into the possession of Babylon's nobility. All of the court gathered to listen to king Hattushil's words to be read aloud, to which he decreed that the firstborn son of the deceased king Kadashman-Turgu, Kadashman-Enlil, be honored, as the one true king of Babylon. Failure to do so would result in open hostility with the Hittite kingdom.
As it turned out, despite the public outcry, Babylon's nobles already planned on naming Kadashman-Enlil as their king and had done so by the time they received the Hittites' cuneiform letter. The tone of the Hittite king's message deeply offended them and accusations were made that the Hittites now considered the Kassites of Babylon nothing more than vassals.
Hattushil's message also emphasized the importance that their defensive alliance against a dangerous neighbor (Assyria) be maintained, and that the Hittite people remained ever loyal to that cause. While this latter part was not disputed, communications between the two nations were commonly delayed by a hostile tribe, the Akhlamu, that plagued the route between them, and relations between Babylon and Hatti began to cool.
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