God announced that Damascus and the cities of Syria, plus Samaria ("the fortified city," Isaiah 17:3), would soon fall. Assyria destroyed Damascus in732 B.C. and Samaria in722 B.C. These cities would lose their sovereignty and glory and would become grazing lands instead of population centers. Nevertheless the almighty God promised that there would be a few people left in Syria, as there would be in Ephraim (cf. Isaiah 18:7). [source][source][source]