Ben-Hadad I was the king of Aram Damascus

Aram Damascus

Aram Damascus was an Aramaean state around Damascus in Syria, from the late 12th century BCE to 734 BCE.Sources for this state come from texts that can be divided into three categories: Assyrian annals, Aramaean texts, and the Hebrew Bible....

 between 885 BCE and 865 BCE. He was the son of Tabrimmon

Tabrimmon

Tabrimmon, also as Tabrimon, also as Tabremon in Douay-Rheims, was an Aramaean king, but there is little known about him. According to the Bible, he is the son of Hezion and the father of Ben-Hadad I:...

 and grandson of Hezion and a contemporary of Kings Baasha

Baasha

Baasha was the third king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Ahijah of the Tribe of Issachar. Baasha's story is told in ....

 of Israel and Asa

Asa of Judah

Asa was the third king of the Kingdom of Judah and the fifth king of the House of David. He was the son of Abijam, grandson of Rehoboam, and great-grandson of Solomon. The Hebrew Bible gives the period of his reign as 41 years. His reign is dated between 913-910 BCE to 873-869 BCE. He was...

 of Judah

Kingdom of Judah

The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....

. Asa called on Ben-Hadad I to aid him in attacking northern Israel while Baasha was restricting access to Jerusalem through border fortifications. The plan worked for Asa as Ben-Hadad took the towns of "Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali" (1 Kings 15:20). This acquisition gave Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

 control of the trade route to southern Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

. By the reign of Ahab

Ahab

Ahab or Ach'av or Achab in Douay-Rheims was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri according to the Hebrew Bible. His wife was Jezebel....

the area was back in Israelite hands.