Scipio's term commenced with two Carthaginian successes, but he tightened the siege and started to build a large mole to prevent supplies from getting into Carthage via blockade runners. At the annual election of Roman magistrates in early 147 BC the public support for Scipio was so great that the usual age restrictions were lifted to allow him to be appointed consul and commander in Africa. A new Roman commander took over in 148 BC and fared equally badly. The Roman campaign suffered repeated setbacks through 149 BC, only alleviated by Scipio Aemilianus, a middle-ranking officer, distinguishing himself several times. The Carthaginians hoped to appease the Romans, but despite the Carthaginians surrendering all of their weapons, the Romans pressed on to besiege the city of Carthage.
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Later in 149 BC a large Roman army landed at Utica in North Africa. Anti-Carthaginian factions in Rome used the illicit military action as a pretext to prepare a punitive expedition. The campaign ended in disaster as the Battle of Oroscopa ended with a Carthaginian defeat and the surrender of the Carthaginian army. In 149 BC Carthage sent an army, under Hasdrubal, against Masinissa, the treaty notwithstanding. Rome's ally, King Masinissa of Numidia, exploited this to repeatedly raid and seize Carthaginian territory with impunity. When the Second Punic War ended in 201 BC one of the terms of the peace treaty prohibited Carthage from waging war without Rome's permission.
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The war was fought entirely within Carthaginian territory, in what is now northern Tunisia. The Third Punic War (149–146 BC) was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between Carthage and Rome.