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.^[2]

As rioting broke out in the initial stages of the Syrian Civil War, Loubna attended Latakia University^[3] but moved to Damascus in 2012 as Latakia was deemed to be unsafe for activists.^[4] This was due to Assad troops opening fire on civilian protestors.^[5] 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.^[4] She promoted the aims of the revolution in the Alawitian community and spoke with the victims of government-run troops.^[6] After her father issued a warrant for her arrest, she fled in August 2012 to Turkey.^[7]

On August 11, 2012, her mother was abducted, according to her father, who subsequently broke off all contact with her.^[6] Loubna later received information from a friend about the death of her mother.^[6]^[2]

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,^[8] The Atlantic^[9] and The New Republic, among other publications.^[10]

Life

References