On the one hand, Mehmed Ali felt that after all the help he afforded to the Porte in subduing both the Wahhabi and Greek revolts he was entitled to a handsome reward, and during the Morean war he had, in fact, asked for the four pashalɩks of Syria to be given to him as that most coveted reward. Once the Morean war was over, however, it became clear that the Sultan (under the influence of Mehmed Ali's arch-enemy, Husrev Pasha) decided to turn down the Pasha's request and Mehmed Ali was determined to take by force what, by then, he considered to be rightly his.

Builds on: "Ottoman sultan resisted Egypt's Syrian expansion with armed threats."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 195