Laish and Sidon were separated from each other by the Lebanon mountains. But the expression likely entails more than just this. It hints at the international relations, where Laish’s legal obligations to Sidon were limited on account of their isolation from them.
7 Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.