Khurshid Pasha dispatched Emir Yusuf Ali Murad, a Maronite sheikh from the Abu'l Lama family, to rein in peasant rebels in Byblos, but Shahin sent a letter warning Emir Yusuf not to intervene in the affairs of Bybos because the Christians of Jubail [Byblos] were united with the ahali of Keserwan and claimed that all the Christians of Syria have made common cause. He condemned Emir Yusuf for aligning himself with the ousted sheikhs and his Druze relatives and accused him of attempting to subjugate the Christians after we achieved our [freedom]. He threatened Emir Yusuf to return without delay and that if he desires a fight, we are more eager than you, and we are not afraid. Shahin's confidence in the support he received from the Christian peasantry of Keserwan and other parts of Mount Lebanon and his challenge to Emir Yusuf through a populist sectarian approach alarmed the Maronite elites, the church and the Ottoman authorities.