[1] Unrelated to Syrian or Palestinian al-Assads, the El-Assaad dynasty that ruled most of South Lebanon for three centuries and whose lineage defended the local people of the Jabal Amel (Mount Amel) principality – today southern Lebanon – for 36 generations, they also held influence in Balqa in Jordan, Nablus in Palestine, and Homs in Syria during Ottomans rule.

They were proclaimed as El-Assaad (the Most Rejoiceful) by their adopting people of Jabal Amel after liberating Sidon and Tyre, its ancient and biblical capitals from Byzantine tyrants.

However, as domestic ideological conflicts, foreign interventions, and corruption escalated, the El-Assaad regime struggled to maintain its control, leading to a rapid deterioration of stability and governance.

The Shia feudal dynasty, which originally hailed from Najd, was established by Ali al-Saghir in the 17th century after the execution of the Druze leader Fakhreddine II by the Ottoman leadership.

[7] 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,[8] with their base originally in Tayibe, Marjeyoun District.

During the French colonial ruler over Greater Lebanon (1920–1943) the mandatory regime gave Shiite feudal families like El-Assaad "a free hand in enlarging their personal fortunes and reinforcing their clannish powers.

[14] Around 1750, Jabal Amel's ruler from the Shiite dynasty of Ali al-Saghir, Sheikh Nasif al-Nassar, initiated a number of construction projects to attract new inhabitants to the almost deserted town.

While the former Maani palace was turned into a military garrison,[17] al-Nassar commissioned the Serail at the Northern port as his own headquarters, which nowadays houses the police HQ.

In 1752, construction of the Melkite cathedral of Saint Thomas was started thanks to donations from a rich merchant, George Mashakka – also spelled Jirjis Mishaqa[18] – in a place that had already housed a church during the Crusader period in the 12th century.

[19] However, around the same time the resurgence of Tyre suffered some backlashes: the devastating Near East earthquakes of 1759 destroyed parts of the town and killed an unknown number of people as well.

In 1781, al-Nassar was killed in a power-struggle with the Ottoman governor of Sidon, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, who had the Shiite population decimated in brutal purges.

At the beginning of the 19th century though, another boom period set in: in 1810 a caravanserai was constructed near the former palace of Emir Younes Maani and the marketplace area: Khan Rabu.

[22] For their fight against the Egyptian invaders, al-Mahmud and his successor Ali El-Assaad – a relative – were rewarded by the Ottoman rulers with the restoration of Shiite autonomy in Jabal Amel.

The 1908 Young Turk Revolution and its call for elections to an Ottoman parliament triggered a power-struggle in Jabal Amel: on the one hand side Rida al-Sulh of a Sunni dynasty from Sidon, which had sidelined the Shia El-Assad clan of the Ali al-Saghir dynasty (see above) in the coastal region with support from leading Shiite families like the al-Khalil clan in Tyre.

Nasif ibn al-Nassar al-Wa'ili (died 24 September 1781) was the most powerful sheikh of the rural Shia Muslim (Matawilah) tribes of Jabal Amil (modern-day South Lebanon) in the mid–18th century.

[24] Under his leadership, the Jabal Amil region prospered, due largely to the revenues from dyed cotton cloth exports to European merchants.

[27] Afterward, Nasif and Zahir's forces captured the city of Sidon, the capital of its namesake province, which included the Galilee and Jabal Amil.

[26] This victory marked the peak of Shia power in Lebanon region during the Ottoman era (1517–1917),[28] and according to de Tott, the Metawalis became a "formidable name [sic]".

In 1780, after having consolidated his hold over the Galilee and defeating Zahir's sons, Jezzar Pasha launched an offensive against the rural sheikhs of Jabal Amil.

Most of Uthman Pasha's 10,000-strong army drowned in the Jordan River as they attempted to flee Zahir's forces commanded by his son Ali al-Zahir.

[38] Upon Uthman Pasha's return to Damascus on 26 June, he launched an expedition to reassert his authority over areas of Palestine that Zahir was left in control of in the aftermath of the Egyptian offensive.

Ali Bek El-Assaad was the Ruler of Bishara Shbib Pasha El-Assaad had a role in the meetings organized in the Levant between (1877–1878), when the Russian army occupied (Adana) and headed towards Istanbul, which threatened the region with falling under a new foreign occupation, so the notables and dignitaries in the Levant met to consult on the matter of their future in When this danger occurred, Jabal Amel was represented by Shabib Pasha al-Asaad.

[42] Through these meetings, they demanded the independence of Syria in the event that the country was in danger of a foreign takeover, as they saw in Prince Abdul Qadir al-Jazaery as president of the country.Ali Nassar Bek El-Assaad was an inspector by the Ottoman Empire over the states of Aleppo and the Levant .

[13] Subsequently, the French Army used the historical garrison building of Khan Sour as a base, which had apparently been taken over as property by the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre from the Franciscan Fathers.

In reaction, a guerrilla group started military attacks on French troops and pro-French elements in Tyre and the neighbouring areas, led by Sadiq al-Hamza from the Ali al-Saghir clan.

In contrast, the most prominent organiser of nonviolent resistance against the French ambitions in Jabil Amel became the Shi'a Twelver Islamic scholar Sayyid Abdel Hussein Sharafeddine (born 1872), the Imam of Tyre.

As a consequence, al-Asaad became a "major instigator of events against Chamoun" and his allies, primarily al-Khalil, who likewise was a long-time member of parliament and the scion of a family of large landowners ("zu'ama")[51] ruling through patronage systems:[52]"The Khalils, with their age-old ways, [..] were known for being particularly rough and hard.

[54] 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.

[58] 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".

Kamel El-Assaad served starting early 1960 as Deputy (Member of the Lebanese Parliament) of Bint Jbeil, succeeding his father late Ahmed Asaad and then held the parliamentary seat of Hasbaya-Marjayoun from 1964 and 1992.