Ahmed Al-Assaad

Ahmad El-Assaad or Ahmad Al-As'ad (1902 – 16 March 1961) was Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament from 5 June 1951, till 30 May 1953.

Life

Family background El-Assaad was the scion of a Shia feudal dynasty, which was established by Ali Al-Saghir in the 17th century after the execution of the Druze 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 (modern-day Southern Lebanon) for almost three centuries, with their base originally in Tayibe, Marjeyoun District.

When the 1858 Ottoman Land reforms 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 holdings as the provincial leaders in Jabal Amel.

During the French colonial ruler over Greater Lebanon (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 in the cabinet of Abdul Hamid Karami from January to August 1945.

Deputy and speaker

When President Camille Chamoun 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, "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". 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. or five protestors were killed and about a dozen injured. Ahmad al-As'ad According to a general delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (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.