Ahaz did not need to turn to the pagan Assyrians for help. In the book of Isaiah we find the Lord urging Ahaz, through the prophet Isaiah, to trust Him to protect Judah. The Lord sends Isaiah out to meet Ahaz to tell him not to be afraid of King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah (son of the late King Remaliah) of Israel, who have joined forces to attack Judah. The Lord's message to Ahaz is, in part: "Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood---because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 'Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.' Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'It will not take place, it will not happen.'" (Isaiah 7:4-7)
The Lord tells Ahaz not to panic. He is not to rush out and call for the Assyrians to help him. The disaster threatened by Aram and Israel (referred to in Isaiah 7 as "Ephraim") will not come to pass. The Lord knows the human tendency to make poor decisions while in a panic, which is why He says to Ahaz, "Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid." I've made poor choices when in deep mental distress. Have you ever done that? Instead of calming myself and taking the time to logically consider all my options, I've made hasty choices in my panic that weren't the best choices. The Lord is being merciful to Ahaz, considering how wicked he's been, and not only tries to calm him down but in Isaiah 7 He even offers him a sign as proof that the Arameans and Israelites will not conquer Judah. But, when we get to the book of Isaiah, we will find Ahaz refusing to ask for a sign or to trust the Lord. Instead he attempts to ally himself with Assyria by purchasing the services of Tiglath-Pileser's army and by promising to become the servant (a vassal king) of Assyria. This only serves to draw Ahaz further away from the Lord and further into idolatry.
"Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned." (2 Kings 16:10-11) The author of 2 Chronicles says that the reason Ahaz wanted to copy an altar of the Arameans is because the Arameans had previously defeated his forces in battle. "He thought, 'Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.'" (2 Chronicles 28:23b) While it's true that the Arameans did some damage to King Ahaz, they have not been able to conquer his nation by the help of their "gods". Also the king of the Arameans has been killed by the king of Assyria; the false gods of Aram didn't protect King Rezin from King Tiglath-Pilezer. So why does Ahaz think these pagan deities will be any help to him?
Perhaps he believes King Rezin angered the Aramean gods somehow and that in retaliation those gods didn't protect Rezin from the Assyrians. Perhaps Ahaz thinks he can do a better job serving the gods of the Arameans and that these gods, in combination with the other false gods he already serves and with the help of the Assyrians, will keep him safe from King Pekah of Israel. Or it could be that he intends to get himself out of the vow of servitude he's made to the king of Assyria. Perhaps he thinks that serving the gods of Aram in addition to serving the gods of other nations will give him enough power to refuse to remain a subject of Assyria.
I can't really say for certain what his reasoning is and it might not be the type of reasoning that would make any sense to us if it was explained to us. Idolatry itself is unreasonable. Hating the Lord and repudiating Him is unreasonable. Because Ahaz did not want to serve the Lord, he has allowed himself to be deceived by Satan, and we cannot really expect anything he does to be logical now that he has given himself over to dark spiritual forces. Satan's goal is to lead the king and the people of the nation into idolatry and to bring about their destruction. The penalty for widescale national idolatry is destruction as a nation. The Lord warned the people before He took them into the promised land that if they fell into the religious practices of the other nations, He would put an end to them as a nation. Their fate would be the same as the fate of the idolatrous tribes of Canaan who inhabited the promised land before them. Satan wants Judah to be utterly destroyed. Satan wants the line of David to be completely cut off. If this happens, the Promised One of the line of David cannot come into the world. If this happens, the human race is doomed.
But the Lord never breaks a promise. When we conclude our study of King Ahaz tomorrow, we will learn that his sins of idolatry persuaded many of the citizens of Judah to follow him into idolatry. But there will always be a faithful remnant in the land and the Lord will not cut off the line of royal succession from the house of David. The Promised One will indeed come. That time is still far off from where we are studying in the Old Testament but we see Him with eyes of faith and so do those who continue to steadfastly serve the Lord. To quote an Old Testament prophet from Numbers 24:17: "I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near." If only Ahaz had believed the promise of the Lord he would have known the Lord was not going to utterly destroy Judah and the royal line of succession! If only Ahaz had looked toward the future with eyes of faith he would not have fallen for the lies of Satan and bowed on his knees to false gods who cannot help him!
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