Ahmad El-Assaad or Ahmad Al-As'ad () (1902 – 16 March 1961) was Speaker of the

Lebanese Parliament The Lebanese Parliament (, ) is the unicameral national parliament of the Lebanon, Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in Electoral district, multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's divers ...

from 5 June 1951, till 30 May 1953.Republic of Lebanon – House of Representatives History
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Life

Family background

El-Assaad was the scion of a

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

, which was established by Ali Al-Saghir in the 17th century after the execution of the

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

leader Fakhreddine II by the Ottoman leadership. The El-Assaad-clan of the Ali Al-Saghir-family went on to dominate the area of

Jabal Amel Jabal Amil (; also spelled Jabal Amel and historically known as Jabal Amila) is a cultural and geographic region in Southern Lebanon largely associated with its long-established, predominantly Twelver Shia Muslim inhabitants. Its precise boundari ...

(modern-day

Southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa districts, the southernmost distr ...

) for almost three centuries, with their base originally in Tayibe, Marjeyoun District. When the 1858 Ottoman

Land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

s led to the accumulated ownership of large tracts of land by a few families upon the expense of the peasants, the Al-As'ad descendants of the rural Ali al-Saghir dynasty expanded their

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

holdings as the provincial leaders in Jabal Amel. During the French colonial ruler over

Greater Lebanon The State of Greater Lebanon (; ), informally known as French Lebanon, was a state declared on 1 September 1920, which became the Lebanese Republic (; ) in May 1926, and is the predecessor of modern Lebanon. The state was declared on 1 Septembe ...

(1920-1943) the mandatory regime gave Shiite feudal families like al-As'ad

"''a free hand in enlarging their personal fortunes and reinforcing their clannish powers''."

Political career

He was the

defense minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in the cabinet of

Abdul Hamid Karami Abdul Hamid Karami (23 October 1890 – 23 November 1950) () was a Lebanese political and religious leader, who had nationalistic Arab inclinations. Biography Karami descended from one of the most prominent Sunni Muslim families in Lebanon. ...

from January to August 1945.

Deputy and speaker

When President

Camille Chamoun Camille Nimr Chamoun (, ; 3 April 19007 August 1987) was a Lebanese politician who served as the 2nd president of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958. He was one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War. Early yea ...

introduced a new electoral system in 1957, El-Assaad for the first time lost the vote for deputy. He had presented his candidacy in Tyre, the stronghold of his Shia rival Kazem al-Khalil, rather than in his traditional home constituency of Bint-Jbeil.

1958 Lebanese Civil War

As a consequence, al-Asaad became a "''major instigator of events against Chamoun''" and his allies, primarily al-Khalil, who likewise was a long-time member of parliament and the scion of a family of large landowners ("'' zu'ama''") ruling through patronage systems:

"''The Khalils, with their age-old ways, .were known for being particularly rough and hard.''"

During the 1958 crisis, Kazem al-Khalil was the only Shi'ite minister in the cabinet of Sami as-Sulh, to whose family the al-Khalil feudal dynasty was traditionally allied. Thus,

"''Kazim's followers had a free hand in Tyre; they could carry Guns on the streets''".

Then, after the formation of the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...

(UAR) under

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

in February 1958, tensions escalated in Tyre between the forces of Chamoun and supporters of

Pan-Arabism Pan-Arabism () is a Pan-nationalism, pan-nationalist ideology that espouses the unification of all Arabs, Arab people in a single Nation state, nation-state, consisting of all Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa from the Atlantic O ...

. Demonstrations took place – as in Beirut and other cities – that promoted pro-union slogans and protested against US foreign policy. A US-Diplomat, who travelled to Southern Lebanon shortly afterwards, reported though that the clashes were more related to the personal feud between El-Assaad and Al-Khalil than to national politics. Still in February, five of its students were arrested and "''sent to jail for trampling on the Lebanese flag and replacing it with that of the UAR''." On 28 March, soldiers and followers of Kazem al-Khalil opened fire on demonstrators and – according to some reports – killed three. On the second of April, four or five protestors were killed and about a dozen injured. In May, the insurgents in Tyre gained the upper hand. Ahmad al-As'ad and his son Kamel al-Asaad supported them, also with weapons. According to a general delegate of the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

(ICRC) who visited in late July, "''heavy fighting went on for 16 days''". Kazem al-Khalil was expelled from the city and al-Asaad' allies took over control of the city. The crisis eventually dissolved in September, when Chamoun stepped down. Al-Khalil returned still in 1958, but was attacked several times by gunmen. Despite the victory of the al-As'ad dynasty, its power soon began to crumble.

Legacy

His son Kamel El-Assaad (1932–2010), was speaker for three terms. The scions of its al-As'ad clan have continued to play a political role even into the 21st century, though of lately a rather peripheral one.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asaad, Ahmad 1902 births 1961 deaths Legislative speakers of Lebanon Defense ministers of Lebanon