Mansur Shihab
| Mansur Shihab | |
|---|---|
| Emir of Mount Lebanon | |
| Reign | 1754–1770 |
| Predecessor | Mulhim Shihab |
| Successor | Yusuf Shihab |
| Born | 1714 |
| Died | 1774 (aged 59–60) |
| Issue | Hammud Haydar II |
| Dynasty | Shihab dynasty |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Mansur Shihab was the Emir of Mount Lebanon between 1754 and 1770. He and his brother Ahmad took the reins of power from their ailing brother Mulhim Shihab and ruled jointly until Mansur became the sole emir after winning a power struggle with Ahmad in 1763. Mansur aligned himself with Zahir al-Umar and Ali Bey, the autonomous rulers of Palestine and Egypt, respectively, in their rebellion against the Ottomans. Mansur was subsequently forced by the Druze sheikhs of Mount Lebanon to step down in favor his nephew Yusuf Shihab after Zahir and Ali Bey were defeated in 1770.
Mansur was born in 1714. His father was Haydar Shihab, the Emir of Mount Lebanon, a semi-autonomous region in the Ottoman province of Sidon. They belonged to the Shihab dynasty which succeeded the Ma'an dynasty as the rulers of Mount Lebanon.
After Haydar died in 1732, his son and Mansur's brother, Mulhim, succeeded him. A power struggle later ensued between Mulhim and Mansur in 1753 and when the former became sick, Mansur and his other brother Ahmad and the powerful Druze clans successfully pressured him to relinquish his authority to Mansur and Ahmad, who were to rule jointly, in 1754. Afterward, Mulhim and his nephew Qasim Shihab tried to oust Mansur and Ahmad, but were unsuccessful. In 1760, a year after Mulhim died, the governor of Sidon, an ally of Qasim, forced Mansur to hand over control of the Shuf region, but Mansur and Ahmad raised 50,000 qirsh (modern equivalent of $600,000) to restore their control.
Mansur and Ahmad turned against each other in a power struggle in 1763, with the latter mobilizing the Yazbaki faction—an alliance of the Druze clans of Imad, Talhuq and Abd al-Malik—against Mansur, who was backed by the Druze Jumblatt clan and the governor of Sidon. Ahmad acquieced to Mansur's authority after realizing his brother had the stronger position. Abd al-Salam Imad of the Yazbaki faction and Ali Jumblatt mediated between Mansur and Ahmad and came to an agreement where Mansur would rule alone, while Ahmad could live in peace at Deir al-Qamar.
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