Why did the Turkish offensive against Egyptian forces in Syria fail in 1839?

The failure of the 1839 Turkish offensive against Egyptian forces in Syria was primarily due to the Turkish commander’s disregard for the professional military advice provided by Helmuth von Moltke.

Moltke, a Prussian officer, had been sent to the Ottoman Empire in 1835 to advise Sultan Mahmud II on the modernization of the Turkish Army. By 1838, he was stationed in Armenia, where Ottoman forces were preparing to reclaim Syrian territories held by the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali and his son, Ibrahim Pasha. The resulting campaign culminated in a decisive defeat for the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Nizip on June 24, 1839. Following this failure, Moltke returned to Germany at the end of 1839 to resume his service in the Prussian military.