abdul rahman kayyali

The National Bloc leaders meeting at the residence of the Tawfiq al-Qabbani in 1928
Standing behind the podium is Fawzi al-Ghazzi, author of Syria’s first republican constitution who was murdered by his wife later that same year. Other figures can be spotted by numbers: 1) Tawfiq al-Shishakli 2) Faris al-Khury 3) Fakhri al-Barudi 4) Najib al-Barazi 5) Abdul Rahman Kayyali 6) Hashem al-Atasi, the Bloc President 7) Gibran Tweini, publisher of al-Nahhar 8) Husni al Barazi 9) Nizar Qabbani, as a little child, in his father’s home.

The National Bloc attending a rally in the 1930s
The National Bloc attending a rally in the 1930s. Seated from left to right: Fayez al-Khury, Zafer Allah Khan, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Jawdat al-Ayyubi, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, Jamil Mardam Bey, unknown, Abdul Rahman al-Kayyali, and Afif al-Sulh. Seated in the lap of Jamil Mardam Bey is his daughter Salma, who published his memoirs in 1994.

Caricature of Abdul Rahman Kayyali, the National Bloc leader in Aleppo
Caricature of Abdul Rahman Kayyali, the National Bloc leader in Aleppo.

Leaders of the National Bloc receiving Riad al-Sulh in Damascus in 1934
Leaders of the National Bloc receiving Riad al-Sulh in Damascus in 1934. Front row (from left to right): Nasib al-Bakri, Saadallah al-Jabiri, Fares al-Khury, Ibrahim Hananu, Hashem al-Atasi, Riad al-Sulh, Abdul Ghafour Msouti, Abdul Qadir Kaylani, Jamil Mardam Bey. Back row (fifth from left): Zaki al-Khatib, Tawfiq al-Shishakli, Najib al-Rayyes, Mazhar Raslan, Naiim Antaki, Ihsan al-Sharif, and Shukri al-Quwatli. Standing behind the two sheikhs is Abdul-Rahman Kayyali.

The National Bloc walking through Homs in 1932
From left to right: Jamil Mardam Bey, Abdul Rahman Kayyali, Riad al-Sulh, Ibrahim Hananu, Saadallah al-Jabiri, and walking a little to the right, on his own is the Bloc’s President Hashem al-Atasi.

Shukri al-Quwatli at the Presidential Palace in Damascus in 1944
From left to right: Lutfi al-Haffar, Abdul Rahman Kayyali, Fares al-Khury, General George Catroux, President Shukri al-Quwatli, Colonel Olivia-Roget, and Prime Minister Saadallah al-Jabiri.

Commemorating the death of Saadallah al-Jabiri in 1948, one year after his death, in Aleppo
The photo was taken during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. Standing behind the microphone is Interior Minister Lutfi al-Haffar. Standing near him in tarboosh is Abdul Rahman Kayyali, president of the National Party, and sitting behind the desk is Mikhael Ilyan of the National Party.

A banquet at the residence of Saadallah al-Jabiri in Aleppo in 1932
Saadallah al-Jabiri, the future prime minister of Syria, was a ranking member of the National Bloc, the anti-French movement during the years 1928-1946. He is standing in the far left side of the photograph. Seated in front of him is future president Shukri al-Quwatli, an MP for Damascus. On the opposite side of the table (from right to left): Abdul Rahman Kayyali, National Bloc President Hashem al-Atasi, Ibrahim Hananu the Bloc Chief, and Najib al-Barazi, the MP and chief of Hama.

Notables surrounding the National Bloc chief Ibrahim Hananu in Aleppo in 1932
Fourth from left is Abdul Rahman Kayyali, one of the co-founders of the Aleppo branch of the National Bloc. Hananu himself is sixth from left, and standing next to him (seventh) is Rushdi al-Kikhiya, a young member of the Bloc who went on to found the Aleppo-based People's Party after evecuation of the French in 1946