Around 1730, a local potentate,
Daher al-Umar, backed by his family, the
Zayadina, and a powerful
Bedouin tribe, the
Banu Saqr, ousted the government-appointed (sub-governor and tax collector) of
Tiberias. The Zayadina had already been well established in the Tiberias area. From at least the late 17th century, its members, including Daher's father,
Umar al-Zaydani, had served as (local, limited-term tax farmers) over different subdistricts in the
Galilee. As , they were officially subordinate to the governor of
Sidon Eyalet, the province which spanned the Galilee, southern
Mount Lebanon and the adjacent Mediterranean coast. They collected taxes from their subdistricts for the governor, pocketed the surplus, and had to annually renew their farming rights. While ostensibly under the governor's authority, the governor of Sidon lacked real power outside of the city of
Sidon itself and usually held office no longer than two years. Daher obtained the tax farming rights of Tiberias from Sidon after occupying it by force, and took advantage of the governor's weakness to unilaterally expand his family's tax farms throughout the decade.
Hostilities between Daher and Damascus In June 1738 the
ulema and other notables of
Damascus sent a petition to the
Ottoman imperial authorities complaining of Daher's assaults, raids and intrigues against areas under the jurisdiction of
Damascus Eyalet, particularly the
nahiyas (subdistricts) of
Quneitra and
Hauran and the
sanjaks (districts) of
Lajjun and
Nablus. In 1737 or 1738 he had used the absence of the governor of Damascus, who was leading the
Hajj pilgrim caravan to
Mecca, to oust the government-appointed chief of the
Bedouin in the Damascus region, Sheikh Dayabi, with an ally, Sheikh Ibn Kulayb. The Bedouin chief of Damascus was primarily responsible for supplying the governor with camels for the Hajj caravan. Although Dayabi was restored soon after the return of the governor to Damascus, the act was a major affront to his authority. Daher followed up by leading an assault on the city, with backing from allies among the
Twelver Shia Muslim (called 'Metawali') clans of
Jabal Amil and the paramount chief of the Mount Lebanon
Druze,
Mulhim al-Shihabi. Elsewhere in 1738, Daher had encroached upon the Nablus and Lajjun sanjaks, occupying, plundering, or razing villages there, including in the
Atlit coastland. East of the
River Jordan, Daher led a raid that year against
Turkmen tribes in the Hauran, plundering their herds and other property. Daher's incursions were a continuation of his campaigns to expand his Tiberias-based territory. While his infringements on the jurisdiction of Damascus in the early 1730s had been limited to the province's sanjaks in
Palestine (Lajjun and Nablus), the moves of 1737 and 1738 expanded his scope of operations to areas east of the Jordan. These were far more alarming to the governor of Damascus, being closer to his seat of power, and alarmed the imperial government as it posed a threat to the all-important Hajj pilgrim route between Damascus and Mecca. In addition to the direct attacks by Daher against areas in the Damascus Eyalet, the governor of Damascus became alarmed at Daher's growing power in the Galilee, which was outside of his jurisdiction, and the fortification of Tiberias in particular. As part of his annual tax collection tour, called the
dawra, in the sanjaks of Palestine, namely Lajjun, Nablus, and
Jerusalem, the governor had to enter the region through the
Daughters of Jacob Bridge, the preferred route, or the more dangerous
Majami Bridge, north and south of Tiberias, respectively. The close proximity of these access points to Daher's Tiberias was viewed as a threat to the crucial
dawra. Thus, according to the historian Amnon Cohen, eliminating Daher had become "a top priority" for the governor, while the imperial government likewise was determined to neutralize him and destroy the fortifications of Tiberias.
Prelude Soon after the 1738 Damascene petition, the imperial government ordered the governor of Damascus to suppress Daher and his Galilee-based subordinates, supplying the governor with five mortars and a military expert to supplement his arsenal of field artillery. Specific instructions were given to destroy Daher's fortifications in Tiberias, his brother Sa'd's in
Deir Hanna, their cousin Muhammad al-Ali al-Zaydani's in
Tarbikha or
Tarshiha, and the forts at
Jiddin and
Suhmata, controlled respectively by their local subordinates Husayn al-Khaliq and Muhammad Nafi. Nevertheless, no action was carried out by the governor and Daher continued operating as before. He strengthened the fortifications of Tiberias, positioning four cannons, acquired from Europe, on a tower he built outside the town, and stocked up on provisions. He also continued raids into the Hauran and, in 1741, attacked the routes connecting Damascus with Palestine and Egypt. The governor of Damascus lodged complaints about these attacks to the imperial authorities. While previous imperial orders demanded Daher "be punished", this time Constantinople explicitly called for Daher's execution. The government's plans were stalled as the governor was soon after dismissed from office. The new governor,
Sulayman Pasha al-Azm, was tasked with carrying out the imperial order to eliminate Daher. Sulayman Pasha received more artillery pieces and demolition experts and equipment from Constantinople. He called on his subordinate governors, the
sanjakbeys of Nablus,
Jerusalem, and
Gaza, as well as Bedouin tribes, to mobilize troops for the campaign. The governor of Sidon was also ordered to support the campaign. While the imperial orders urged Sulayman Pasha to eliminate Daher and destroy his fortifications, he also had strict instructions not to infringe on Sidon's authority by harming the inhabitants or damaging the local economy, and to conclude the operation before the departure of the Hajj caravan. ==Sieges==