Lamia al Hariri ( ar, لمياء الحريري) is Syria's former chargée d'affaires in the Republic of Cyprus who defected to

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

in July 2012.

Early life

Hariri was born in

Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ...

but originally from the

Daraa Governorate Daraa Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة درعا / ALA-LC: ') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the south-west of the country and covers an area of 3,730 km2. It is bordered by Jordan to the south, Qune ...

. She is the daughter of the retired major general Mohammad Al Hariri, a former deputy interior minister. She is also the niece of Syrian vice-President Farouk al Shaara.

Career and defection

Hariri was appointed to Nicosia as Syrian chargée d'affaires in November 2010. Her defection was reported by

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

on 24 July 2012. Two members of the opposition

Syrian National Council The Syrian National Council (SNC; ar, المجلس الوطني السوري, ''al- Majlis al-Waṭanī as-Sūri'', french: Conseil national syrien), sometimes known as the Syrian National Transitional Council or the National Council of Syri ...

(SNC) confirmed her defection on 25 July 2012. Al Arabiya reported that she joined the opposition. She reportedly went to Qatar and she is still there. On 25 July 2012, her husband Abdelatif al-Dabbagh, former Syrian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, also defected to Qatar and joined his wife, Lamia al Hariri. His defection was also confirmed by SNC spokesman Mohammad Sarmini. On 26 July 2012,

SANA Sana may refer to: Places * Sanaa, the capital of Yemen * Sana (river), a river in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Sana, Bhutan, a town in Bhutan * Sana, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France * Sana, Iran, a village in Iran * Sana, Mali, a commune in M ...

issued a statement of Syria Foreign Ministry, stating that Lamia al Hariri was not an ambassador, but a diplomat working at the Syrian Embassy in Cyprus and that her mission was to manage the Embassy's affairs until an ambassador or charge d'affaires is appointed. Her defection was significant, since it was the second defection of a Syrian diplomat in July 2012 after that of Nawaf al Fares.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hariri, Lamia 20th-century Syrian women 20th-century Syrian people 21st-century Syrian women politicians 21st-century Syrian politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Daraa People of the Syrian civil war Syrian defectors Syrian Sunni Muslims Syrian women diplomats