Ahmed Pasha al-Jazzar أحمد باشا الجزّار جزّار أحمد پاشا | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Jazzar Pasha, 1775 | |
| Wali of Sidon | |
| In office May 1777 – April 1804 | |
| Monarchs | Abdul Hamid I Selim III |
| Preceded by | Zahir al-Umar |
| Succeeded by | Sulayman Pasha al-Adil |
| Wali of Damascus | |
| In office March 1785 – 1786 | |
| Monarch | Abdul Hamid I |
| Preceded by | Husayn Pasha Battal |
| In office October 1790 – 1795 | |
| Monarch | Selim III |
| Preceded by | Ibrahim Deli Pasha |
| Succeeded by | Abdullah Pasha al-Azm |
| In office 1798–1799 | |
| Monarch | Selim III |
| Preceded by | Abdullah Pasha al-Azm |
| Succeeded by | Abdullah Pasha al-Azm |
| In office 1803 – April 1804 | |
| Monarch | Selim III |
| Preceded by | Abdullah Pasha al-Azm |
| Succeeded by | Ibrahim Pasha Qataraghasi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1720s – 1730s Fatnica, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 7 May 1804 Acre, Sidon Eyalet, Ottoman Empire |
| Resting place | Acre |
Ahmed Pasha al-Jazzar (Arabic: أحمد باشا الجزّار, c. 1720–30s – 7 May 1804) was the Acre-based Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet from 1776 until his death in 1804 and the simultaneous governor of Damascus Eyalet in 1785–1786, 1790–1795, 1798–1799, and 1803–1804. Having left his native Bosnia as a youth, he began a military career in Egypt in the service of mamluk officials, eventually becoming a chief enforcer and assassin for Ali Bey al-Kabir, Egypt's practical ruler. He gained the epithet of al-Jazzar (the Butcher) for his deadly ambush on a group of Bedouin tribesmen in retaliation for the death of his first master in a Bedouin raid. Al-Jazzar fell out with Ali Bey in 1768 after refusing to take part in the assassination of another of his former masters. He ultimately fled to Syria, where he was tasked by the Ottomans with defending Beirut from a joint assault by the Russian Navy and Zahir al-Umar, the Acre-based ruler of northern Palestine. He eventually surrendered and entered Zahir's service before defecting from him and fleeing with stolen tax money.
After the Ottomans defeated and killed Zahir, they appointed al-Jazzar as their garrison commander in Acre. He pacified the Galilee and Mount Lebanon, which had been dominated by Zahir's kinsmen and the Druze forces of Yusuf Shihab, respectively. In 1776 or 1777, he was appointed governor of Sidon, but relocated the provincial capital to Acre, which he strongly fortified. In the following years, he defeated his erstwhile Shia Muslim ally, Nasif al-Nassar, consolidating his control over Jabal Amil (modern southern Lebanon). In 1785, al-Jazzar was appointed to his first of four terms as governor of Damascus, each time gaining more influence in the province's affairs in opposition to his rivals from the Azm family. In 1799, with the help of the British navy, al-Jazzar defended Acre from Napoleon, forcing the latter to withdraw from Palestine in disarray. His successful defense of Acre earned him prestige in the empire and made him well known in Europe.
Al-Jazzar died in office in 1804. He was ultimately succeeded in Acre by his mamluk Sulayman Pasha al-Adil; until his suppression of a mamluk revolt in 1789, al-Jazzar had appointed mamluks to senior posts in his military and administration. Al-Jazzar attempted to develop the areas under his control by improving road security and maintaining order. However, his domestic military expeditions and stringently enforced and exploitative taxation policies precipitated high emigration, although the cities of Acre and Beirut prospered. The former became a powerful regional center rivaling Damascus and until today contains many architectural works commissioned by al-Jazzar, such as its walls, the el-Jazzar Mosque and the Khan al-Umdan caravanserai.