After retreat from Damascus, the Christians returned to the kingdom, leaving the people of Damascus to rejoice. The Christian rulers met again to discuss other plans for co-operation, like th capture of Askalon, which would involve much shorter distances. However each proposal was rejected as soon as it was made. Conrad III soon decided that he had no further role to play, and so he prepared his ships and left for Byzantium. He may have left in the same ships of Nikephoros Dasiotes in which he had come