Maarouf Saad was a Lebanese politician and activist. He served as Sidon's representative in the Parliament of Lebanon between 1957 and 1972. He founded the Popular Nasserite Organization in 1973. Saad was known to have a charismatic and populist relationship with the residents of Sidon and the adjacent Palestinian refugee camps, according to historian Samir Khalaf. Nonetheless, tensions developed between Saad and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1970s as they competed for influence in Sidon. Saad's assassination sparked the Lebanese Civil War, and he is considered by many historians the conflict's first casualty.