Maarouf Saad

Early life Saad (first person from the right under the "1" mark) as a volunteer during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine outside the village of Kafr Sur. First from the left underneath the "x" mark is Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad.

Saad was born to a Sunni Muslim family in Sidon in 1910 Unlike most of his political colleagues and rivals, Saad hailed from modest origins. According to the Maarouf Saad Cultural Center, he received his primary education at the Sidon Evangelical School and attended the Universal College of Aley, graduating in 1929. In 1930, he became a teacher, working in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria between then and 1936. He was imprisoned by the British authorities In 1958, tensions between the mostly Muslim and Druze opposition and the mostly Christian supporters of President Camille Chamoun—stemming from Chamoun's enmity with the United Arab Republic (a union between Egypt and Syria established in February), the government's attempts at containing political opposition, and the deployment of the US Sixth Fleet—erupted into countrywide civil strife in May.

Saad used his Lebanese support base and allied Palestinian militias to gather arms and organize a defense of Sidon from government control, which he accomplished with ease. He headed a central command that oversaw an array of committees such as security, courts, military training and propaganda. With over 1,000 militiamen under his command, Saad led successful skirmishes against pro-government forces and prevented all government attempts at entering Sidon for the five-month duration of the crisis. While he frequently dispatched some of his men to aid opposition forces in neighboring areas, Saad's forces rarely launched attacks against regions outside Sidon. While Bizri gained the support of most of the city's middle and upper classes and had the backing of the government, Saad—who normally represented the opposition to the national government—drew substantial support from Sidon's poorer residents.

In August 1970, a group of PLO guerrillas from the Fatah and as-Saiqa factions based in the nearby Ain al-Hilweh camp came into conflict with Saad's Nasserist partisans, resulting in the death of one Nasserist fighter. The guerillas subsequently detained Saad in the camp and shut down his supporters' office in Sidon. A general strike in the area was declared as protest to Saad's detention and calls by incensed residents for the closing of guerrilla offices in Sidon were made. Saad was consequently released days later after intervention by an envoy sent by President Nasser. However, Salam's support for Bizri was only a partial reason for Saad's loss of votes. Another factor was that the roughly 1,000 voters of Palestinian origin in Sidon switched from their traditional support for Saad to Bizri during the election. By that time, the PLO had become much stronger in the area and did not require the political cover Saad had traditionally lent them. This became another source of tension between Saad and the PLO, who were then targeting Saad's traditional voting base: the pan-Arabist sympathizers of the Old City of Sidon and local leftists. This also contributed to the waning of Saad's reputation as the "man of the people" in the city. in effect becoming its mayor. However, Salam ordered the council dissolved in 1973 to Saad's protestations. Relations between Sidon's residents and the government grew increasingly tense, partly a result of Saad's own increasingly antagonistic relationship with the national government. Chamoun offered to salary some of Sidon's unionized fishermen, but they largely objected. Pressured by his popular base, on 6 March. It is more generally accepted that the attack on a Palestinian bus by Phalangist militiamen a few weeks after Saad's death marked the beginning of the civil war.

Personal life Saad had two sons, Mustafa and Ousama, and five daughters, Mona, Jamileh Saad Younes, Wafaa, Shahnaz Saad and Roula Saad, some of whom became involved to various degrees in Lebanese politics as part of the PNO. Mustafa served in the Lebanese parliament until his death in 2002 and during the civil war, founded a military wing for the PNO. Ousama succeeded his brother as Sidon's MP after his death and was reelected in 2005. He lost to the Future Movement candidate in 2009, but stayed the secretary-general of the PNO and maintained an active Nasserist presence in the city of Sidon within the broad March 8 coalition in Lebanese politics. On 6 May 2018, he took advantage of the new electoral law and was reelected to the parliament. Meanwhile, Mona Saad continues to head the Maarouf Saad Social and Cultural Foundation.