Victorious Judean troops then took an initiative and attempted to expand their control to the Hellenistic city of Ashkelon, assembling an army commanded by Niger the Perean, Yohanan the Issean, and Shila the Babylonian and laying siege to the city. Despite the pillage of Ashkelon's countryside, the campaign was a disaster for the Judeans, who failed to take the city and lost some 8,000 militia men to the small defending Roman garrison. Many Jewish residents of Ashkelon were butchered by their Greco-Syrian and Roman neighbours as well in the aftermath. The failure to take Ashkelon changed the tactics of rebel Judean forces from open engagement to fortified warfare.