page_title: Zahir al-Umar
section_title: Peak of power
hierarchical_section_title: Zahir al-Umar / Rule / Peak of power
caption_attribution_description: Description =Le lac Agmon dans la vallée Hula en Israel Source =Photo taken by Remi Jouan Date =Novembre 2006 Author =Remi Jouan
context_page_description: Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Palestine in the mid-18th century, while the area was still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire. For much of his reign, starting in the 1730s, his domain mainly consisted of Galilee, with successive headquarters in Tiberias, Arraba, Nazareth, Deir Hanna and finally Acre, in 1746. He fortified Acre, and the city became a center of the cotton trade between Palestine and Europe. In the mid-1760s, he reestablished the port town of Haifa nearby.
  Zahir successfully withstood assaults and sieges by the Ottoman governors of the Sidon and Damascus provinces, who attempted to limit or eliminate his influence. He was often supported in these confrontations by the rural Shia Muslim clans of Jabal Amil. In 1771, in alliance with Ali Bey al-Kabir of the Eyalet of Egypt and with backing from Russia, Zahir captured Sidon, while Ali Bey's forces conquered Damascus, both acts in open defiance of the Ottoman sultan. At the peak of his power in 1774, Zahir's autonomous sheikhdom extended from Beirut to Gaza and included the Jabal Amil and Jabal Ajlun regions.
context_section_description: In an attempt to expand his zone of influence to Nablus, the commercial center of Palestine and its agriculturally-rich hinterland, Zahir besieged Nablus in late 1771. By then, Zahir had secured an alliance with the powerful Jarrar clan, who were incensed at Uthman Pasha's assignment of Mustafa Bey Tuqan as the collector of the miri (hajj pilgrimage tax). Nablus was under the de facto control of the Tuqan and Nimr clans, local rivals of the Jarrars. The loss of Jaffa and Bani Sa'b stripped Nablus of its sea access. Nablus was defended by 12,000 mostly peasant riflemen under Nimr and Tuqan commanders. After nine days of clashes, Zahir decided to withdraw and avoid a costly stalemate. As he departed Nablus, his forces raided many of the city's satellite villages, from which its peasant defenders originated.
  Uthman Pasha had resumed his governorship of Damascus at the end of June 1771 and was determined to eliminate Zahir. To that end, he assembled a coalition that included his sons Darwish Pasha al-Kurji and Muhammad Pasha al-Kurji, who were the governors of Sidon and Tripoli, respectively, and Emir Yusuf Shihab of Mount Lebanon. In late August Uthman Pasha reached Lake Hula at the head of 10,000 Ottoman troops. Before Uthman Pasha could be joined by his allies, Zahir and Sheikh Nasif of the Metawalis confronted the governor's troops on 2 September. Ali al-Zahir, Zahir's son and a commander of one of his four battlefield regiments, raided Uthman Pasha's camp, while Zahir's other troops blocked them from the west. Uthman Pasha's troops hastily retreated towards the Jordan River, the only place where they were not surrounded. The overwhelming majority drowned in the river, with only 300–500 survivors, including Uthman Pasha who almost drowned but was rescued by one of his men. The Battle of Lake Hula marked a decisive victory for Zahir, who entered Acre triumphantly with the spoils of Uthman Pasha's camp. He was celebrated by the residents of the city and on the way there, he was given honorary gun salutes by each of his fortified villages on the route between Tiberias and Acre. He also received congratulations from the French merchant ships at the port of Acre. Zahir's victory encouraged Ali Bey to relaunch his Syrian campaign.
  Following his victory against Uthman Pasha, Zahir demanded Darwish Pasha vacate Sidon, which he did on 13 October. He returned two days later after receiving the backing of Emir Yusuf. Zahir decided to move against Emir Yusuf, and together with his ally Sheikh Nasif, he confronted him at Nabatieh on 20 October. Emir Yusuf's men numbered some 37,000. Zahir's Metawali cavalry engaged in a maneuver where they fled the battlefield in apparent defeat, only to have the pursuant troops of Emir Yusuf surrounded by Zahir's men, who dealt Emir Yusuf's army a decisive blow. Emir Yusuf thereafter retreated to his mountain village of Deir al-Qamar, while Sidon was left under the protection of Ali Jumblatt and 3,000 Druze defenders. However, with news of Zahir's victory, Ali Jumblatt and Darwish Pasha withdrew from Sidon, which was subsequently occupied by Zahir and Sheikh Nasif. Uthman Pasha and all of his sons were consequently dismissed from their posts by the Sublime Porte. Although, he could not capture Nablus and its hinterland, Zahir's domain by the end of 1771 extended from Sidon to Jaffa and included an influential presence in the Hauran plain.
  Muhammad Tuqan captured Jaffa from Zahir in May 1772, the same month that Ali Bey arrived in Acre to seek Zahir's protection after being forced out of Egypt by rival mamluks. In June, the Ottoman loyalist Jazzar Pasha sought to establish himself in Lebanon and took over Beirut from the local Druze chieftains. The Druze had previously been in conflict with Zahir, but due to Jazzar's offensive, the circumstances fostered an alliance between them, Zahir and the Metawali clans of Jabal Amil. Zahir and Ali Bey sought to take back Jaffa and, with help from the Russian Fleet, succeeded after a nine-month siege, in which they exhausted many of their resources. Prior to tha
caption: Zahir decisively defeated the army of Governor Uthman Pasha al-Kurji near Lake Hula
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