Despite his hungry nibbling at the disorganized former Hittite lands, king Tiglath-pileser's victories on the west were soon plagued by a distraction back home. The Commagene people had risen once again in open-rebellion causing the Assyrian king to return with a vengeful aim at retribution. But once he did return to the northern outskirts of Assyria, he'd found that the majority of the uprising voices had absconded to their mountain fortresses.
Irked at his inability to reach the dissenting voices amongst the Commagene, as they each lay hidden safely within dangerously steep holdfasts, Tiglath-pileser and his advisors knew it would be a lengthy wait to starve the rebels out. And yet, wait they did, but not for so long, as the local inhabitants of the mountain lands, beginning with the Kurti people then others to follow, took umbrage with Assyrian soldiers upon their soil.
Quickly forgetting the rabble who'd withdrawn to the mountaintops, king Tiglath-pileser found himself filling the shoes of a conqueror once again, and it was said that upon finalizing his excursions, the Assyrian army had overtaken twenty five cities and countless villages. The lands of Arzanene (modern Armenia) and lands that extended to the great river now known as Amu Darya were all captured.
Many of these places surrendered to the much greater Assyrian forces without resistance. Fight or no fight, the result was the same, their lands became Tiglath-pileser's land, and a greater part of Assyria's borders had expanded once again.
The irony in the Commagene's uprising is that no matter which direction the Assyrian king would have chosen to expand, expansion would've occurred. His original intent decided upon the west, but with the Commagene drawing his attention back north, his military simply shifted geographical objectives and the mountain villages suffered a great wroth by proxy on behalf of their well-hidden and troublesome neighbors.
Rather than be gored by Assyria's might on the field, the people within the Arzanene region submitted whilst withholding any desire to grumble, but as the years beyond will tell they'd opt to fight another day.
Another day and against another king.
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Typical mountain village during this period (as rendered by archaeologists by the 1800s):
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