Muhammad Fneish ( ar, محمد فنيش) (born 1953) is a

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Lebanese politician and member of

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

. He represented Hezbollah in the

Third Cabinet of Saad Hariri On 6 January 2019, a new Lebanese government was formed, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The government took nine months to form, following extended negotiations with various political factions. It is a national unity cabinet, and is compos ...

, serving as the Minister of Sports and Youth.

Early life

Fneish was born into a

family in

Maaroub Maaroub (Arabic: معروب), is a small town in the Tyre District of Southern Lebanon's South Governorate. It is characterized by a blend of old and new architecture. The town is divided into two parts: the old town, and the modern one that ha ...

in 1953.

Career

Before dealing with politics Fneish worked as a teacher. He became a member of the Hezbollah's 15-member central committee. In 1992, he was elected as a member of parliament for Hezbollah representing

Bint Jbeil Bint Jbeil () is the second largest town in the Nabatiye Governorate in Southern Lebanon. The town has an estimated population of 30,000. Its exact population is unknown, because Lebanon has not conducted a population census since 1932. Histo ...

. He also won the same seat in the elections held in 1996 and 2000. He also ran for the seat in the 2005 general elections and got the highest votes in Tyre, namely 154,056 votes, surpassing Nabih Berri by about 1,000 votes. He was energy minister from July 2005 to November 2006. Prior to his appointment as energy minister, he served as a municipal council member in Tyre. He was one of

's six representatives in

the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

led by then prime minister

Fouad Siniora Fouad Siniora ( ar, فؤاد السنيورة, translit=Fu'ād as-Sanyūrah; born 19 July 1943) is a Lebanese politician, a former Prime Minister of Lebanon, a position he held from 19 July 2005 to 25 May 2008. He stepped down on 9 November 2009 ...

until he and other Hezbollah members resigned from office in 2006. The reason for their resignation was Siniora's eagerness to sign the UN draft plan for the foundation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which would search the assassination of Rafik Hariri, who was killed on 14 February 2005. Fneish served as minister of labour in the next

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

headed again by Siniora which was formed in 2008. In the 2009 Lebanese general elections, Fneish won again a seat from Tyre as part of the 8 March alliance list. Then, he was appointed state minister for administrative reform in the cabinet of

Saad Hariri Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ar, سعد الدين رفيق الحريري, translit=Saʿd ad-Dīn Rafīq al-Ḥarīrī; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese-Saudi politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 t ...

, being one of two Hezbollah-backed ministers. The other Hezbollah minister in Hariri's cabinet was Hussein Al Hajj, in charge of agriculture ministry. Fneish was named Minister of Youth and Sports in the December 2016 cabinet. He ran in the 2018 parliamentary elections and won. He was renamed in the January 2019 cabinet as Minister of Youth and Sports.

Personal life

Fneish is married and has seven children. His brother Abdul Latif Fneish was convicted of importing counterfeit medicine into Lebanon to sell on the local market.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fneish, Muhammad 1953 births Living people Hezbollah politicians Members of the Parliament of Lebanon Government ministers of Lebanon Lebanese Shia Muslims