From Tell Bashir, Ioannes II moved towards Antioch, taking up a position ot Gastounai with the idea of restraining Raymond of Poitiers. From there he sent messengers to Antioch, so as to activate the treaty made in 1137. He asked that Antioch and its contents be handed over as a base for war with neighbouring peoples, promising to interpret the treaty generously. The Antiochenes debated how to reply. They decided that a large and rich city like Antioch should not be handed over to the Byzantines, whose sloth would lose it, as before. But it was necessary to cloak this decision in a persuasive pretext for (apparently) breaking the pact. They sent messengers to Ioannes to inform him that he could not enter the city. They claimed that neither Raymond's wife Constance nor he (whose rule was dependent on marriage to her) had the right to hand over Antioch, which belonged to its people. If the rulers accepted Ioannes' request, they would be disinherited and driven out. Ioannes was angered at this reply, but he knew how stubborn the Antiochenes could be. It would be unexpectedly difficult to enter the city, and even if he succeeded, he might have little long-term effect. He did not want war between Christians, and so decided not to force entry into Antioch. He camped in the suburbs, allowing his troops to take all they could, especially necessary supplies, so that they burned fruit-trees as wood for cooking; he then returned to winter quarters in Cilicia