 Ismail built a rapport with the British consul in Damascus and virtually all Druze correspondence with the British and French consuls of Damascus bore Ismail's signature.The Ottomans treated Ismail as the "de facto" ruler of the Druze, although the Hamdan sheikhs continued to assert their traditional authority over the Druze of Jabal Hauran.The sheikhs of the major traditional families petitioned the British consul to compel the authorities to appoint Wakid as the "first sheikh" of Jabal Hauran in October 1856.