 Khoury became the Christian member of the Ottoman Parliament representing Damascus in 1908.In May 1916 Khoury agreed to assist Michel Sursock, a wartime profiteer, in requisitioning grain from farmers in the Hawran Also 1916, Khoury joined the Arab resistance and promised to support the Arab Revolt, launched from Mecca by Sharif Husayn.His connections with Husayn, the prime nationalist of his era, resulted in his arrest and trial by a military tribunal in Aley.