A Sunni Muslim nationalist from Sidon who had been active in the Arab independence movement since the Ottoman era, Riad el-Solh was appointed Lebanon's prime minister in September 1943 and worked with President Bechara el-Khoury to negotiate the National Pact, the unwritten sectarian power-sharing agreement that underpinned Lebanese independence that November. Jailed alongside el-Khoury by French mandate authorities during the independence crisis, he was released after mass protests forced France to concede. He served a second term as prime minister from 1946 to 1951 before being assassinated in Amman, Jordan, on 17 July 1951, reportedly by members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in retaliation for his role in the 1949 execution of the party's founder.
- Lived: 1894 CE – 1951 CE
- Nationality: lebanese
- Roles: Prime Minister of Lebanon (1943-1945, 1946-1951)
