Following his victory in Keserwan, Shahin and his fighters launched intermittent raids against villages in nearby regions, such as Byblos and Matn, often in the name of defending the rights of local Christians.

The assaults and their repercussions served as catalysts of the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war, particularly the battle of Beit Mery between local Maronites and Druze, in which Shahin was a principal belligerent.

[1][3] According to Thompson, Shahin "was more a man of spoken word than the pen, famous for powerful, sermon-like speeches at village meetings",[1] and for his violent temper, according to Salibi.

[1] Anecdotal accounts gathered by writer Yusuf Mubarak indicate Shahin's piety, including twice-daily prayers and a refusal to consume meat except on Sundays and Christian holidays.

[5] Peasant anger in Keserwan had been building since the mid-19th century, due to a number of factors, including the burdens of corvée (unpaid labor for a landlord) that had been imposed during the rule of Emir Bashir Shihab II,[6] general economic hardship, and the decreasing availability of land.

[6] To meet Emir Bashir's increased tax demands and finance their move to gain further control over Keserwan's silk production, the Khazens took loans from Beirut lenders and accumulated significant debts.

[12] Shahin broadened the peasants' main demands of tax relief and refunds for the illegal payments they had previously paid to the Khazen sheikhs to also include political and legal reforms.

[9] He became known as the wakil 'amm (general delegate), and in the fall of 1859 moved the headquarters of the rebellion from the coastal village of Zouk Mikael to his hometown of Rayfoun in the mountains.

[10] Shahin, who by this point oversaw a 1,000-strong militia,[10] exercised power by seizing arms, ensured the upholding of the law and established security on the roads.

[11] Shahin's popularity among the Christian peasants of Mount Lebanon grew as he came to be viewed as their savior from both the Druze nobles and the traditional Maronite elites.

The Ottomans launched an investigation in Keserwan, but in their interviews with the peasants, all claimed that they were unaware of looting and other crimes, while representatives of Shahin denied that they were rebels, insisting that they only sought the implementation of the Tanzimat reforms and the restoration of law and order.

Shahin nominally recognized the Maronite Patriarchate as the ultimate arbiter of disputes, but consistently urged them to honor their obligations to the "ahali" (commoners).

[18] They reacted to Shahin's revolt negatively, although the provincial Ottoman authorities of Beirut generally felt powerless to act against the peasant rebels due to a lack of funds and forces on the ground.

Khurshid Pasha sympathized more with the Khazen sheikhs and in a letter to the Patriarchate accused Shahin of using "deceit to lead astray the minds of the people and to seduce them into following his evil ways".

[18] Khurshid Pasha dispatched Emir Yusuf Ali Murad, a Maronite sheikh from the Abu'l Lama family, to rein in peasant rebels in Byblos, but Shahin sent a letter warning Emir Yusuf not to "intervene in the affairs" of Bybos because the "Christians of Jubail [Byblos] were united with the ahali of Keserwan" and claimed that "all the Christians of Syria have made common cause".

[19] He condemned Emir Yusuf for aligning himself with the ousted sheikhs and his "Druze relatives" and accused him of attempting to "subjugate the Christians after we achieved our [freedom]".

[20] Shahin's confidence in the support he received from the Christian peasantry of Keserwan and other parts of Mount Lebanon and his challenge to Emir Yusuf through a populist sectarian approach alarmed the Maronite elites, the church and the Ottoman authorities.

[12] Tensions turned into violence, and between March and May 1860, several retaliatory tit-for-tat killings and attacks of sectarian nature between Druzes and Christians occurred throughout Mount Lebanon and its immediate environs.

In late May, Shahin and some 300 of his men entered the village of Naccache in the mixed Druze-Maronite Matn district to seize silk owned by a noble family of Keserwan.

According to Lebanese historian Leila Tarazi Fawaz, the Keserwan fighters proved to be undisciplined and ineffective against the more experienced, unified and better organized Druze forces.

[23] The fighting in Matn spread throughout Mount Lebanon and its surrounding area, becoming a civil war mainly between the Druze and the Christians, which later spilled over into other parts of Syria.

[25] However, when his men were halted by Ottoman forces in Matn, Shahin and other Maronite militia leaders largely restricted their operations to guarding their areas of origin.

[29][32] Shahin opposed Karam, who in a bid to reconcile the Maronite community, issued orders directed to the peasants of Keserwan to restore properties seized from the Khazens and compensate the latter for their losses.