Ahmad Izzat al-Abid

Who was Ahmad Izzat al-Abid?

Ahmad Izzat al-Abid was a Syrian politician.

Abid was born in Damascus, but he was educated in Beirut, Lebanon. He spoke Arabic, French and Turkish. He moved to Istanbul where he served the Ottoman sultan, Abdul Hamid II as an adviser. He left the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and moved to London for some time before living in France and Switzerland. He then left for Egypt, where he died in 1924.

Abid accumulated great wealth during his life. He was also a businessman and owned numerous enterprises or buildings including the largest tourist hotel in Syria, the Victoria Hotel in Damascus.

He was the father of Mohammed Ali Bay al-Abid, who served as president of Syria from 11 June 1932 until 21 December 1936.