Damascus, being north-northeast of Israel, provided a kind of compass point for the direction which the exile would take; north then east following the arc of the Fertile Crescent and its main roads into Assyrian territory. Amos’s words imply the Assyrian captivity of Israel (see 2 Kings 17:6).1
27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.