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.[6]
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."[7]
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.[9]
1958 Lebanese Civil War
As a consequence, al-Asaad became a "major instigator of events against Chamoun" and his allies, primarily al-Khalil,[5] who likewise was a long-time member of parliament and the scion of a family of large landowners ("zu'ama") ruling through patronage systems:[10]
"The Khalils, with their age-old ways, [..] were known for being particularly rough and hard."[11]
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".[5]
Kamel Asaad with his daughter Iman
Then, after the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) under Gamal Abdel Nasser in February 1958, tensions escalated in Tyre between the forces of Chamoun and supporters of Pan-Arabism. Demonstrations took place – as in Beirut and other cities – that promoted pro-union slogans and protested against US foreign policy.[12] 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.[9]
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."[13][9] On 28 March, soldiers and followers of Kazem al-Khalil opened fire on demonstrators and – according to some reports – killed three.[5] On the second of April, four[14] or five protestors were killed and about a dozen injured.[12]
In May, the insurgents in Tyre gained the upper hand.[15] Ahmad al-As'ad[5] and his son Kamel al-Asaad supported them, also with weapons.[16] 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".[17] 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.[5]
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.[18]
References
^كامل الأسعد (in Arabic). Great Men From Lebanon. Archived from the original on 2017-06-03. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
^Abisaab, Rula Jurdi; Abisaab, Malek (2017). The Shi'ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah's Islamists. New York: Syracuse University Press. pp. 9–11, 16–17, 24, 107. ISBN9780815635093.
^Firro, Kais (2002). Inventing Lebanon: Nationalism and the State Under the Mandate. London and New York: I. B. Tauris. pp. 159, 166. ISBN978-1860648571.
^Shaery-Eisenlohr, Roschanack (2011). SHIITE LEBANON: Transnational Religion and the Making of National Identities. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 24. ISBN978-0231144278.
^Ajami, Fouad (1986). The Vanished Imam: Musa al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon. London: I.B.Tauris & CO. Ltd. pp. 42–45, 85–86. ISBN9781850430254.
^ abAttié, Caroline (2004). Struggle in the Levant: Lebanon in the 1950s. London - New York: I.B.Tauris. pp. 155, 158, 162–163. ISBN978-1860644672.
^Sorby, Karol (2000). "LEBANON: THE CRISIS OF 1958"(PDF). Asian and African Studies. 9: 88, 91 – via SLOVENSKÁ AKADÉMIA VIED.
^Qubain, Fahim Issa (1961). Crisis in Lebanon. Washington D.C.: The Middle East Institute. pp. 64–65. ISBN978-1258255831.
