Mustapha Allouch (born 24 July 1958) is a Lebanese politician and a former member 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 ...

. He represented the constituency of

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

from 2005 until 2009 as a member of the

Future Movement The Future Movement () is a Lebanese political party affiliated with the Sunni sect. The party was founded as a coalition in 1995 led by Rafic Hariri which was known as the Hariri Bloc but was officially founded in 2007. The party is led by Saad ...

and is known as vocal member of the

March 14 Alliance The March 14 Alliance (), named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, was a coalition of political party, political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that were united by their anti-Ba'athist Syria, Assad stance and by their opp ...

Early life

Allouch was born and raised in

Tripoli, Lebanon Tripoli ( ; , , ; , ; see #Names, below) is the largest and most important city in North Lebanon, northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Governorate ...

. Son of Mohamad (Abu Mustapha) Allouch, a merchant and a political activist, Mustapha Allouch spent the early years of his life in

Bab El Tabbaneh Bab or BAB can refer to: *Bab (toponymy), a component of Arabic toponyms literally meaning "gate" * Set (mythology) (also known as Bab, Baba, or Seth) ancient Egyptian god * Bab (Shia Islam), a term designating deputies of the Imams in Shia Islam ...

. As a teenager, before the start of the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

, he was active in various

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

and

Arab Nationalist Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

movements and fought in the first two years of the Civil War alongside the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

. Disillusioned with the violence of the civil war, Allouch enrolled at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

(AUB) in premedical sciences after briefly studying law in France. In 1985, Allouch earned his

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

from AUB and was married to his wife, with whom he has since had three children. During his time at the university, Allouch was an active member of its

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

club. He participated in many tournaments and was the champion of Lebanon in his weight class on several occasions. In 1986, he represented Lebanon in an International Judo Championship held in France. He has achieved 6th

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa ** Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...

(Shodan) in judo. In 1991, Allouch completed his residency in

general surgery General surgery is a Surgical specialties, surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and Abdomen, abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, Appendix (anatomy ...

at the American University of Beirut Hospital during which he served as the chief resident. He subsequently participated in a

Transplant Surgery Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be trans ...

Fellowship at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

which he completed before returning to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and specifically

in 1993.

Political career

Allouch has been an active member of the

since 1997 and after a strong performance in the 2004 municipal election of Tripoli where he garnered the highest number of votes, he was sought a parliamentary seat in the 2005 parliamentary elections. He ran on the Future movement ticket as part of the

in the aftermath of Prime Minister

Rafic Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed fi ...

’s assassination. He represented the district of Tripoli in Parliament from 2005 to 2009. In the summer of 2006, Allouch radically opposed positions and actions of

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

that led to the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

between the militant group and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Since then, Allouch continues to staunchly oppose

and criticizes their close connection and allegiance to Iran. At the same time, he is known for his criticism of religious

fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...

in Lebanon and is often criticized by his more conservative peers in the Future Movement for his strong support for civil laws and the separation of state from religious institutions. Allouch is also criticized by leftists and progressives in Lebanon about belonging to a center-right party in the Future Movement, however Allouch is known to actively champion

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and progressive ideals within his party and the March 14 Alliance. He becomes vice-president of the

Al Hurriya Liberal Network The Al Hurriya Liberal Network (, AHLN) is a network of liberal political parties in the Middle East and North African region (MENA) founded on 20 March 2021. Starting 2019, several liberal parties started cooperating to spread values such as ...

in March 2021. Allouch publishes columns regularly in the daily newspapers '' Al-Mustaqbal'' and '' Al Joumhouria''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allouch, Mustapha 1958 births Living people Members of the Parliament of Lebanon American University of Beirut alumni