arms. Elbasanlli clerics also supported the Latin alphabet, opposing Haxhi Qamili's view and also the views of more conservative Sunni clerics elsewhere. Rebels killed several Muslim clerics who were involved in Albanian nationalist cycles. The rebellion was only tacitly supported by the Ottomans, who as a consequence of the Balkan Wars were physically separated from the Albanian lands. The Ottoman preoccupation with the looming First World War also rendered diplomatic and material support impractical. War with Essad Pasha Essad Pasha Toptani, a supporter of the feudal lords, took power with Serbian support. Qamili became one of the leaders of the renewed rebellion and was elected by the Islamic rebels as their commander-in-chief. by the end of November 1914, the rebels had regained the upper hand in Tirana and burnt Essad Pasha’s palace to the ground. The rebellion achieved rapid successes, confining Essad's government of central Albania to Durrës itself. With the start of the First World War, Albania was invaded by Greek, Italian and Serbian forces, which changed the situation of the uprising entirely. In January 1915 Qamili along with other rebel leaders convened a National Congress in Tirana, declaring on behalf of the whole Albanian people the illegitimacy of Essad's Durrës-based government while affirming Albanian neutrality in World War I. In May 1915 Qamili was elected leader of the rebels. Death In an effort to aid Essad's government and to further its own territorial aims, the Kingdom of Serbia launched an invasion of central Albania on June 2, 1915 but was promptly met by resistance led by Qamili at Qukës where, however, the rebels' outnumbered and outgunned forces were defeated by the Serbs. Through this intervention the "rebellion, with [its] vague, unsettled political objectives, which did, nevertheless, have both a popular and a social basis" was suppressed. The Serbian forces arrested Qamili and other rebel leaders and sent them as prisoners to Durrës, where they were tried in a court presided over by Xhelal Bey Zogu and sentenced to be hanged. Analysis Enver Hoxha believed that the peasant movement under Qamili's direction was primarily one of the rural poor, which relied upon traditional forms of government such as village councils to organize and direct a struggle against feudal interests. Qamili preached that all property in excess of personal needs should be given to the impoverished, quoting the Quran and also expressing the sentiment of the Melami sect, which was