Adel Osseiran

Adel Osseiran (Arabic: عادل عسيران) was a prominent Lebanese politician and statesman, a former Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, and one of the founding fathers of the Lebanese Republic.

Adel Osseiran played a significant role at various points in the history of modern Lebanon, such as the struggle for independence (1943), the mini-civil war of 1958, and the Lausanne Conference for Peace(1984).

Born on 5 June 1905 to the Shia family of Abdallah Ali Effendi Osseiran and Zahra Al Hajj Hassan Osseiran, Adel was his parents' only son, followed by three sisters. His father died of the Typhus plague in 1917 when Adel was 12 years old, and he was raised by his mother and paternal uncles.

The Osseirans are a prominent family of notables based in Sidon and the Jabal Amel region of Lebanon.

Adel Osseiran received his early education at the French Orthodox Elementary School (Les Freres) in Sidon, and completed his secondary education at the International College (IC) in Beirut. He then pursued his higher studies at the American University of Beirut, graduating with a degree in History and Politics in 1928. He returned to his alma mater to do an MA in Political Science, graduating in 1936. During the interval, he had also begun a law degree at the Universite Saint Joseph (USJ) but did not complete it. A powerful orator in Classical Arabic, he was also fluent in English and French.

In 1936 he married Souad Al Hajj Ismail Al-Khalil, by whom he had seven children: the late Abdallah, the MP Ali, and five daughters: Zhour, Afaf, Samia, Zeina, and Leila. His daughter Leila married Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi in 1971; they had four children.

Souad Al Khalil Osseiran was an educated woman by the standards of her time, and was also a part-time painter. The marriage was a love match.

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