Loubna Mrie

Loubna Mrie

Mrie comes from an Alawite family from a village near Latakia. Her father is a high official in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence. Despite her family ties, she is one of a few Alawites to join the fight against the Assad regime and has been branded a traitor by her father.[1]

As rioting broke out in the initial stages of the Syrian Civil War, Loubna attended Latakia University[2] but moved to Damascus in 2012 as Latakia was deemed to be unsafe for activists.[3] This was due to Assad troops opening fire on civilian protestors.[4] She later joined the Free Syrian Army (FSA) where she helped with the transport of food and medical aid, then with the smuggling of ammunition.[3] She promoted the aims of the revolution in the Alawitian community and spoke with the victims of government-run troops.[5] After her father issued a warrant for her arrest, she fled in August 2012 to Turkey.[6]

On August 11, 2012, her mother was abducted, according to her father, who subsequently broke off all contact with her.[5] Loubna later received information from a friend about the death of her mother.[5][1]

She later became a photojournalist with Reuters based in Aleppo where she covered the conflict then moved to New York where she is a researcher and commentator on Syrian and Middle Eastern affairs. She has been published in The Washington Post, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung,[7] and The New Republic, among other publications.[8]