Around 1590 Fakhr al-Din succeeded his father as the "muqaddam" of all or part of the Chouf. Tax records indicate he had gained the "iltizam" of the Sidon and Beirut nahiyas and the port of Beirut from 14 July 1589. Unlike his Ma'nid predecessors, he cooperated with the Ottomans, who, though able to suppress Mount Lebanon's local chiefs with massive force, were unable to pacify the region in the long term without local support. When the veteran general Murad Pasha was appointed "beylerbey" (provincial governor) of Damascus, Fakhr al-Din hosted and gave him expensive gifts upon his arrival to Sidon in September 1593. Murad Pasha reciprocated by appointing him the "sanjak-bey" (district governor, called "amir liwa" in Arabic sources) of Sidon-Beirut in December. While his ancestors were locally referred to as emirs, Fakhr al-Din had attained the official rank of emir or its Turkish equivalent, bey. The Ottomans' preoccupation with the wars against Safavid Iran (1578–1590; 1603–1618) and the war with Hapsburg Austria afforded Fakhr al-Din the space to consolidate and expand his semi-autonomous power. Between 1591 and 1594 government records indicate Fakhr al-Din's tax farms grew to span the Chouf, Matn, Jurd, Biqa' al-Aziz (southern Beqaa Valley), Shaqif and Tibnin nahiyas, as well as the salt profits from the ports of Acre, Sidon and Beirut. Most of his tax farms were renewed by the Porte between 1596 and 1598.