Khalil Khalil

Khalil was born in Tyre on 8 February 1941.^[1] He hails from a Shiite family.^[2] His parents are Kazem Khalil, a politician, and Mouzayan Haidar.^[1][3]

Khalil received a degree in law from the American University of Beirut.^[1]

Following his graduation Khalil worked as a barrister.^[1] Then he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[1] His first diplomatic post was the ambassador of Lebanon to Iran which he held between September 1971 and September 1978.^[1][4] He was named as the ambassador of Lebanon to the Federal Republic of Germany in October 1978 and remained in office until July 1983.^[1] He was the director general of legal affairs department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1983 and 1985.^[1] He was the ambassador of Lebanon to the Netherlands from September 1985 to 1990.^[1] Next he was appointed ambassador of Lebanon to Turkey in 1991 which he held until 1994.^[1] He resigned from diplomatic post on 21 June 1996.^[1]

During his diplomatic post in Iran Khalil closely worked with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.^[5] One of their collaborative activities was to curtail the popularity of Musa Al Sadr, a powerful Lebanese Shia figure.^[5] Khalil's family was not on good terms with Musa Al Sadr due to the conflicts between Al Sadr and Nasser Khalil, brother of Khalil Khalil.^[6] Khalil was also close to the Iranian politician Asadollah Alam.^[6]

Khalil is among the signatories of a document protesting the sectarian approach of two Shia political groups, Amal and Hezbollah.^[2] The document was issued on 9 June 2020.^[2]