Maccabee campaigns of 163 BC

During the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, there were a series of campaigns in 163 BC in regions outlying Judea - Ammon, Gilead, Galilee, Idumea, and Judea's coastal plain, a wider region usually referred to as either Palestine or Eretz Israel. The Maccabee rebels fought multiple enemies: Seleucid garrisons and hired mercenaries under a commander named Timothy of Ammon, non-Jewish inhabitants hostile to the Maccabees and their Jewish neighbors, and possibly the Tobiad Jews, a clan that generally favored the ruling Seleucid government. During 163 BC, the main Seleucid armies composed of Greeks were elsewhere, so the Maccabees were free to expand their influence against their neighbors.

The Maccabees did not in general hold the territory they fought in during this period, but rather engaged in raids on opposing power centers and retributive attacks on anti-Jewish populations. The book 1 Maccabees describes a vicious campaign of extermination on both sides: the Gentiles were out to slaughter the Jews, and the Maccabees massacred Gentiles they believed involved, burning down their towns as intimidation and revenge. The Maccabees invited Jews living in hostile territory back to Judea as refugees and escorted them back under the safety of their army.