Renowned Lebanese poet and writer Said Akl passed away on Friday morning at the age of 102.
Akl was born in 1912 in the eastern town of Zahleh, and quit school at the age of 15 to help his family after financial difficulties. He later pursued studies in literature in the 1930s after moving to Beirut.
Famous for his radical Lebanese nationalism, Akl, also known as the "Little Poet," promoted the use of Lebanese dialect written in modified Roman script rather than the modern standard Arabic and alphabet.
He was defined by his Phoenician-centered nationalism, which made him popular among many Lebanese and controversial among others.
After having left the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Akl became one of the leaders of the Guardians of the Cedars, a radical nationalist political party created during the Lebanese Civil War which welcomed the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, seeing it as a golden opportunity for forcing Palestinians out of Lebanon.
Although mostly known for his poetry, the deceased writer was also a journalist and wrote for several newspapers such as Al-Jarida, Al-Sayyad, and had a column in Assafir in the 1990s.