Date of Birth: 1960

Place of Birth: Haouch al-Nabi, Baalbek District, Lebanon

Position in Hezbollah: Chairman of the Political Council

Ibrahim Amine al-Sayyed, who went under the pseudonym “Ibrahim al-Amine” for a period, was born in the village of Haouch al-Nabi in the Baalbek District, in eastern Lebanon. 

Al-Sayyed studied in the religious seminaries of Qom. He was a member of Amal and the party’s representative in Iran during the early 1980s. At the Islamic Republic’s behest, he turned on the party, publicly criticizing its leader Nabih Berri during a press conference in Tehran, and announcing his defection. He soon returned to Lebanon, and served as one of the senior leadersof a group under the spiritual leadership of Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, called Dawlat Hezbollah Lubnan, one of the Hezbollah movement’s central pillars. He went on to serve as the nascent Hezbollah’s official spokesman. In that capacity, he declared Hezbollah’smanifesto, the Open Letter, on February 16, 1985. 

Al-Sayyed was then dispatched to Beirut as Hezbollah’s official representative to spread the new party’s message in the heavily Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut. At the time, he was Hassan Nasrallah’s boss. Both al-Sayyed and Nasrallah also acted as Hezbollah’s liaison officers with Iran through its embassy in Beirut, most notably with Mohammad Nourani, the charge d’affairesbetween 1981-1985.

According to a short biography written when al-Sayyed was elected to the Lebanese parliament, he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Lebanese University in Beirut, in 1981, and then a Master’s Degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg in 1984. In 1987, he obtained a PhD in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Orleans. That year, he returned to Lebanon and worked as a professor at Lebanese University’s Colleges of Science, Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacology. Though a cleric, no mention is made of his religious studies, or how he was able to obtain these degrees while simultaneously conducting his party activities. 

In 1988, a dispute arose between Sheikh Subhi al-Tufaili and Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah over the feasibility of establishing an Islamic republic in Lebanon. Al-Tufaili, supported by al-Sayyed, argued that such a republic should be established as soon as possible, and all resources should be devoted to this end. Fadlallah disagreed. By the time the TaefAgreement had been signed and was in the process of being implemented by the Lebanese Parliament, he appears to have modified his position. He sided with Nasrallah in order to guarantee Hezbollah’s survival under the changing circumstances in Lebanon which installed once-hostile Syria as the country’s new hegemon. Under those conditions, they understood rigidity would undercut their armed struggle against Israel and eventual goal of establishing an Islamic republic. 

Magnus Ranstorp, in his book Hizb’allah in Lebanon: the Politics of the Western Hostage Crisisclaims al-Sayyed was appointed as Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General during its second conclave in 1991. However, other sources claim this position went to Naim Qassem at the time, including Qassem’s biography on his website.

Al-Sayyed – along with seven other Hezbollah members and four non-Shiite affiliates –  was elected as a member of the Lebanese Parliament representing the Bekaa District during the 1992 elections as part of its Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, which he headed. He was elected again in 1996.

In 1994, al-Sayyed helped establish Hezbollah’s Islamic Center Association for Guidance and Higher Education. He was elected to Hezbollah’s Shura Council during the party’s sixth conclave, held in July of 2001, and replaced Mohammad Raad as the head of the Political Council. He has maintained that position, and his membership on the Council, since then.