Suhair al-Atassi

Suheir al-Atassi
Suheir Atassi in 2013
Vice President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces
In office 12 November 2012 – 4 January 2015 Serving with Riad Seif
President	Moaz al-Khatib
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Noura al-Ameer
Personal details
Born	1971 (age 45–46)
Nationality	Syrian
Relations	Jamal al-Atassi (father)
Alma mater	Damascus University
Occupation	Vice-president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces Lawyer
Known for	Democracy activist Women's activist Secular activist
Religion	Sunni Islam

Suheir al-Atassi (سهير الأتاسي Suhair al-ʾAtāsī; born 1971) is the leading female secular activist in the Syrian opposition, and since November 2012 co-vice-president of the opposition government. She has been called the "Lady of the Revolution" and is widely respected in secular and intellectual circles within the Syrian opposition structure. She had previously run the media wing of the banned Jamal Atassi Forum, which was named after her father, a founding member of the Ba'ath Party who later left and founded the Democratic Arab Socialist Union.

Atassi was born in Damascus in 1971 to a prominent political family from Homs. She is daughter of Jamal al-Din al-Atassi, prominent pan-Arabist in Syria. She studied French literature and education at the University of Damascus, and was active in the Damascus Spring, helping to form and run the Jamal al-Atassi Forum. She revived the forum online in 2009 in order to help promote democracy and human rights in Syria. On 16 March 2011 she was arrested for her activities. After her release, she had to go into hiding before fleeing Syria to Jordan and then France.

In December 2013 Atassi resigned as Vice-President of the exile 'National Coalition' after that the Assistance Coordination Unit, the opposition aid agency, went on strike over claims of mismanagement of aid delivery and funding. She said she would keep her position as chairwoman for the Assistance Coordination Unit, based in Turkey.