[7]: 206  The Persian army reinforced by Jewish forces led by Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias would shortly capture Jerusalem without resistance.

Nehemiah ben Hushiel and his council of sixteen people were killed along with many other Jews, some throwing themselves off the city walls.

[12][13][14] Bands of Jews from Jerusalem, Tiberias, Galilee, Damascus, and even from Cyprus, united and undertook an incursion against Tyre, having been invited by the 4,000 Jewish inhabitants of that city to surprise and massacre the Christians on Easter night.

The expedition, however, miscarried, as the Christians of Tyre learned of the impending danger, and seized the 4,000 Tyrian Jews as hostages.

[7]: 208 [16] By 622 CE, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius had assembled an army to retake the territory lost to the Sasanian Empire.

It is said that Benjamin, a man of immense wealth and one of the leaders of the failed revolt, accompanied Heraclius on his voyage to Jerusalem, was persuaded to convert, and obtained a general pardon for himself and the Jews.

[23]: 38 Archaeological work does not support the claims in the written sources that the conflict led to large-scale massacres perpetrated against Christian and Jewish communities in Jerusalem and the destruction of churches in the city (see below).

Some historians believe the war reduced and weakened the Christian population not just in Jerusalem but across the Near East, allowing the success of the following Arab invasion.

However, over the past thirty years the archaeological evidence has not supported the ancient manuscripts which record the devastation of the Christian community in Jerusalem.

A mass burial grave at Mamilla cave was discovered in 1989 by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich, near the site where Strategius recorded the massacre took place.

As stated by archaeologist Gideon Avni: Demographic continuity might have resulted from population exchange by the victorious Jewish rebels, but apparently also the Christian habitation remained relatively constant, despite the disturbance by the Persian conquest, and no significant impact on the population of Jerusalem was made during the following period of Sassanid dominance.

Unlike in earlier times when Jews had supported Christians in the fight against Shapur I, the Byzantines had now become viewed as oppressors.

James Parkes estimates that if ten percent of the Jewish population joined the revolt and the figure of 20,000 rebels is correct then 200,000 Jews were living in the territory at the time.

[3]: 81 The Sasanian Persians were joined by Nehemiah ben Hushiel[9] and Benjamin of Tiberias (a man of immense wealth), who enlisted and armed Jewish soldiers from Tiberias, Nazareth and the mountain cities of Galilee, and together with a band of Arabs and additional Jews from southern parts of the country they marched on Jerusalem.

[15] The Persian army reinforced by Jewish forces led by Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias would capture Jerusalem without resistance.

Nehemiah ben Hushiel and his council of sixteen righteous were killed along with many other Jews, some throwing themselves off the city walls.

According to the Armenian bishop and historian Sebeos the siege resulted in a total Christian death toll of 17,000,[7]: 207  4,518 prisoners were massacred near Mamilla reservoir per Antiochus Strategos.

[13] James Howard-Johnston argues that the massacre occurred in the context of the returning Jews attempting to round up the ring leaders who had led the earlier pogrom.

A mass burial grave at Mamilla cave was discovered in 1989 by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich near the site, where Antiochus recorded the massacre took place.

[39]: 39–40  Bands of Jews from Jerusalem, Tiberias, Galilee, Damascus, and even from Cyprus, united and undertook an incursion against Tyre, having been invited by the 4,000 Jewish inhabitants of that city to surprise and massacre the Christians on Easter night.

The expedition, however, miscarried, as the Christians of Tyre learned of the impending danger, and seized the 4,000 Tyrian Jews as hostages.

The besiegers, to save the remaining prisoners, withdrew,[15] having had to suffer the humiliation of watching the heads of the Jewish captives as they were thrown over the walls.

[6]: 117  In the period following the death of Kavad II, up to six different individual are said to have reigned, these are Ardashir III, Shahrbaraz, Borandukht, Shapur-i Shahrvaraz, Azarmidokht and Farrukh Hormizd.

Antiochus records that Heraclius made an agreement with Ardashir III with Shahrbaraz acting as intermediary,[41]: 187  Nikephoros gives a date of July 629 at Arabissos.

[41]: 185  Walter Emil Kaegi sees this July 629 meeting as representing an earlier negotiation with Shahrbaraz preceding the death of Kavad II.

[41]: 188  To seal the deal Shahrbaraz's son Niketas and another of his brothers came to live at the Byzantine court, having been held for a time in central Mesopotamia practically as hostages.

Robert Bonfil suggests that Heraclius’ change of heart in 630 cannot be separated from the "Jewish Question" and the anti-Jewish world view ubiquitous to Christian thought at that time.

[46] Heraclius set out to forcibly convert the Jews of the Byzantine Empire, reportedly advising his friend Dagobert, king of the Franks, to do likewise.

[16][47] After the successful Sasanian siege of Jerusalem,[48] Jews were given autonomy under Nehemiah Ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias.

The events of the Persian-Byzantine struggle in the Levant and the consequent Arab conquest inspired several apocalyptic Jewish writings of the early Middle Ages.