دير حنا
In the first few years following his takeover of Acre, Zahir resided in the fortress of Deir Hanna in the heart of Galilee. He began fortifying Acre by building walls around the city in 1750. He built other fortifications and buildings in Acre as well. In 1757, he took control of the Mediterranean port villages of Haifa and Tantura, and nearby Mount Carmel, all of which had been part of Damascus Eyalet, unlike most of Zahir's domain at the time, which was in Sidon Eyalet. He also captured the port village of al-Tira, between Tantura and Haifa, at that time. Zahir's stated justification to the Ottoman authorities for conquering Palestine's northern coastal plain was to protect the area from Maltese pirates.