Playwright and dramatist. Sa'dallah's finest works - The Elephant, Oh Lord of Ages and An Evening Party for the Sake of 5 June, written after the Arab defeat in the June 1967 six-day war with Israel, that established his reputation He was known throughout the Arab world for his dreamlike allegorical plays that combined a cerebral and intensely political approach with the enchanted style of the Arabic folk-tale. In 1996 the International Theatre Institute, UNESCO invited Sa'dallah, to give a message on International Theatre Day. He made an impassioned appeal, just before his death by cancer, for freedom of expression and for the dignity of the individual. Sa'dallah Wannus was born to an Alawite family near Syrian port of Tartus.