He ultimately fled to Syria, where he was tasked by the Ottomans with defending Beirut from a joint assault by the Russian Navy and Zahir al-Umar, the Acre-based ruler of northern Palestine.

In the following years, he defeated his erstwhile Shia Muslim ally, Nasif al-Nassar, consolidating his control over Jabal Amil (modern southern Lebanon).

The former became a powerful regional center rivaling Damascus and until today contains many architectural works commissioned by al-Jazzar, such as its walls, the el-Jazzar Mosque and the Khan al-Umdan caravanserai.

[28] In 1758, possibly as a result of a dispute with another of Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha's men or upon his own intuition, he accompanied Salih Bey al-Qasimi, a Mamluk and the amir al-hajj (commander of the Hajj caravan) to Mecca.

[32] In 1772, the Ottoman commander-in-chief of the Syrian provinces, Uthman Pasha al-Wakil, and Emir Yusuf besieged Sidon to oust the forces of Zahir al-Umar, the virtually autonomous Arab ruler of Palestine, and Nasif al-Nassar, the powerful Shia Muslim sheikh of Jabal Amil.

[41] Al-Jazzar, using his influence in Constantinople,[42] managed to secure promotion as the administrator of Sidon Eyalet with the rank of vezir (minister),[41] but not wali (governor),[42] in March 1776.

[45] Meanwhile, Hasan Kapudan returned to Acre in the summer of 1776,[44] and he and al-Jazzar, whose forces were bolstered by Nasif's Shia horsemen,[45] besieged Deir Hanna, which capitulated in June.

[39] Al-Jazzar dispatched the commander of his Maghrebi troops in Sidon, Mustafa ibn Qara Mulla, to collect payments from the Druze clans and kill Emir Yusuf.

[39] However, conflict emerged between the Druze of Mount Lebanon, with the Jumblatt and Abu Nakad clans moving to depose Emir Yusuf and replace him with his brothers Sayyid-Ahmad and Afandi.

[48] The Sublime Porte (Ottoman imperial government) commended al-Jazzar's victory in a letter filled with rhapsodic praise and a promise to him of the empire's unyielding support to "clean the land of the filth of their existence", in reference to the Shia clans.

The Sublime Porte was reticent to give al-Jazzar the added power of the governorship of Damascus, and instead the appointment went to a man who died 29 days into office and who was then replaced by Darwish Pasha al-Kurji.

Both Darwish and Battal were deemed incompetent and the Sublime Porte ultimately appointed al-Jazzar to the governorship in March 1785, after the latter expended a large bribe to imperial officials in Constantinople.

[51] The Ottomans launched an expedition led by Hasan Kapudan in 1786, but they were ordered to withdraw after the war with Russia resumed and the Mamluks were restored to power in Egypt.

[51] With an army of some 5,000 soldiers, al-Jazzar made the dawrah (collection tour of the miri tax) in Palestine, which was largely part of Damascus Eyalet, in June and July 1785.

[53] They reached a truce with Emir Yusuf and secured the support of the Maghrebi unit commander in Beirut, al-Jaburi, who turned down al-Jazzar's orders to kill Salim.

[53] On 3 June, the rebels, numbering some 1,200 soldiers, including Kurdish cavalry from Hama commanded by Mulla Isma'il, reached the plain of Acre, but had no apparent plan on how to capture the city.

[56] This came following a revolt by imperial Janissaries from the Citadel of Damascus led by Ahmad Agha al-Za'faranji and aghawat (local commanders) from the southern quarter of al-Midan against Ibrahim Deli, which the latter was able to suppress.

[57] However, unlike his first term, al-Jazzar chose to remain in Acre and appointed one of his close advisers,[58] Muhammad Agha, as mutasallim or qaimaqam (deputy governor)[59] of Damascus to administer the internal affairs of the province on his behalf.

[77] Mass celebrations in Damascus and Aleppo followed his victory,[74] and al-Jazzar became "the defender of the faith" in Muslim public opinion, while being credited by European observers as among the few to have defeated Bonaparte.

[83] In 1816, James Silk Buckingham described al-Jazzar as the following: He was a man famous for his personal strength, his ferocious courage, his cruelty, and his insatiable avarice, as well as for the great power which the active exertion of all these qualities together procured for him.

[86] Despite the profound sense of betrayal he felt at the rebellion of his senior mamluks, when Sulayman Pasha returned to Acre in 1802, al-Jazzar "received him like a lost son", according to Philipp.

[86] Towards the end of the 18th century, al-Jazzar employed Haim Farhi, a Damascene Jew from a banking family, to serve as his treasury manager and administrative adviser.

[55] Although paying these various military units was a massive expense, al-Jazzar paid his troops well, at least during the early part of his rule as wali, in an effort to guarantee their loyalty and gratitude to him.

[52] By 1789, his naval squadron consisted of three galiots, one zebec and two Dalmatian boats that were based in Acre, but at times were briefly anchored at Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli or Latakia.

[91] Improvements in agricultural development and increased trade from Palestine bolstered the economic prosperity of certain enclaves of territory in his domain,[91] particularly the coastal cities of Acre, Sidon and Beirut.

[91] Although he attempted to attract immigrants, including Christians and Jews, to settle in his domains, al-Jazzar's institution and strict enforcement of a stringent and high taxation policy heavily burdened the population to the point that many emigrated from the areas he ruled to neighboring regions.

[94] French Orientalist Pierre Amédée Jaubert visited Acre in 1802 and wrote that al-Jazzar maintained a well-guarded prison whose doors he kept open so that residents could view the incarcerated prior to their torture or execution.

[95] According to the contemporary chronicler Mikha'il Mishaqah, "even in the worst of his infamy, he maintained equal treatment of his subjects of different religions, for he would imprison Muslim ulema, Christian priests, Jewish rabbis and Druze elders alike.

As part of rehabilitation of Safad, which had been destroyed by the Near East earthquakes of 1759, he called on Jews to help settle the city, offering rate reductions in taxes and customs duties.

[93] Towards the end of his life, he maintained a seemingly austere lifestyle and refrained from extravagant spending, with the exception of his bribery of imperial officials and his building works in Acre.