Mahmoud Al-Zoubi (; 1935 – 21 May 2000) was Prime Minister of Syria from 1 November 1987 to 7 March 2000. He was the longest-serving prime minister of Syria.
Early life
Al-Zoubi was born into the Al-Zoubi clan which is a Sunni family in 1935 in Khirbet Ghazaleh, a village 75 miles south of Damascus in the Hauran region.
Prime Minister of Syria
Al-Zoubi was a member of the Ba'ath Party. Under the rule of then President Hafez Assad, Al-Zoubi was appointed prime minister in 1987.
On 7 March 2000, Al-Zoubi was replaced as prime minister by Mohammed Mustafa Mero.
Currency crisis
During 1985-2000, Al-Zoubi's administration failed to arrest the 90 per cent fall in the worth of the Syrian Pound from 3 to 47 to the US Dollar.
Downfall and the Airbus deal controversy
On 10 May 2000, Hafez Assad expelled Al-Zoubi from the Ba'ath Party and decided that Al-Zoubi should be prosecuted over a scandal involving the French aircraft manufacturer Airbus. Conflicting reports say he died at age 62 In June 2000, according to Lara Marlowe, there were persistent rumours that Al-Zoubi was actually murdered.
Al-Zoubi was buried at his birthplace in southern Syria. Sources said the funeral at Kirbit Ghazali, about 100 km south of Damascus, was a simple ceremony limited to his close family members and some of his hometown people.