…into Syria and Phoenicia, his object being…

…into Syria and Phoenicia, his object being to isolate the Persian fleet from its bases and so to destroy it as an effective fighting force.

To Alexander, Palestine is, as to many before him, a corridor leading to Egypt, the outlying Persian province.

Consequently, in his attack on that province after the Battle of Issus, he confines his attention, in his passage southward, to reducing the coastal cities that might form bases for the Persian fleet.

The Phoenician cities Marathus and …