Sabri al-Asali  Sabri al-Asali (; 1903 – 13 April 1976) was a Syrian politician and a three-time prime minister of Syria. He also served as vice-president of the United Arab Republic in 1958. Al-Asali was born into a wealthy landowning family in Damascus. His uncle, Shukri al-Asali, was a prominent national leader, and a deputy in the Ottoman Parliament. Shukri al-Asali and a number of other nationalist leaders were executed in Damascus and Beirut by the Ottoman "wāli", Jamal Pasha, on 6 May 1916. Sabri al-Asali attended Damascus University and graduated with a law degree in 1925. That same year the Great Syrian Revolt against the French occupation erupted, and al-Asali participated in the uprising by helping smuggle arms and supplies to the Syrian fighters in the Ghouta area. Following the suppression of the revolt, al-Asali was exiled by the French authorities to Saudi Arabia where he became a special advisor to the Saudi King Abd al-Aziz, alongside another exiled Syrian leader, Shukri al-Quwatli. Al-Asali and Quwatli returned to Syria in 1932 following a general amnesty. In 1933 al-Asali, along with a number of influential Arab thinkers, became a founding member and general-secretary of the League of National Action, with the aim of countering European colonial influence. Other founding members included the historian and professor Constantin Zureiq, the philosopher Zaki al-Arsuzi and the politician Muhsin al-Barazi. The League was very successful in Syria and Lebanon, and called for the abolition of the French and British mandates and the economic integration of Arab countries. In 1936 Quwatli invited al-Asali to join the National Bloc, an umbrella group that led the political struggle against the French occupation. Al-Asali ran for parliament as a member of the Bloc and won a seat in the 1936 elections, and again in 1943, 1947, 1954, and 1962. Al-Asali served as minister of interior in the cabinet of Faris al-Khoury, and later he became minister of justice and education. In the cabinet of Saadallah al-Jabiri that was formed in October 1945, al-Asali again held the portfolios of justice and education. Al-Asali was part of the Syrian delegation that attended the founding of the Arab League in Cairo in 1945. Syria regained its independence in April 1946, and al-Jabiri formed the first cabinet in post-occupation Syria, appointing al-Asali as minister of interior where he served until November 1946.