Luna al-Shibl, a senior advisor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was involved in a severe traffic accident in the Yafour area, resulting in critical injuries. There are rumours that the accident was orchestrated.
The Presidency of the Republic announced this evening that Special Adviser Luna Shibl was severely injured in a traffic accident on one of the roads leading to Damascus this afternoon. This confirms earlier reports by Syria TV. However, the regime did not provide details on the alleged orchestration of the incident, as revealed by confidential sources to Syria TV.
Sources from Syria TV disclosed that an armoured car collided with the vehicle carrying Shibl on the Damascus-Yafour highway, pushing her car toward the middle of the road. The vehicle that hit her was reportedly equipped with an iron support at the front, resulting in Shibl suffering from severe cerebral hemorrhage.
Following the accident, Shibl was taken to the intensive care unit at al-Shami Hospital in Damascus. The driver and a companion were transferred to an unknown location.
A week ago, regime intelligence arrested Brigadier General Molham al-Shibl, Luna Shibl’s brother, on charges of communicating with a foreign country, according to sources.
“We need a miracle”: waiting for the announcement of the death of Luna Shibl
Informed sources from Damascus revealed that the Syrian regime authorities prevented Shibl’s husband, Ammar Saati—former president of the “National Union of Syrian Students” and a former member of the People’s Assembly—from entering the hospital. Information from inside al-Shami Hospital indicates that Shibl’s condition is very severe due to significant bleeding, and there is anticipation for a green light to announce her death.
A picture of a decision signed by the Minister of Higher Education in the regime’s government approving the termination of Saati’s services and the liquidation of his rights has spread.
Saati’s attempts to transfer his wife Shibl to Beirut failed. Doctors who arrived from Lebanon confirmed that she was in a coma and “in need of a miracle.”
Accident or murder?!
The incident comes after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad excluded Luna Shibl’s name from the Baath Party’s Central Committee list, along with others, including his adviser Buthaina Shaaban and his deputy for security affairs, Ali Mamlouk. This occurred during the expanded meeting of the Central Committee, which Assad attended and where he appointed members himself, last May.
Confidential sources told Syria TV that the Syrian regime was seeking, through the Baath elections and the subsequent changes, to revitalize the process of “floating” and to appear as a “reformist.” This effort aimed at both the structure of the regime and the ruling Baath Party, as well as promoting the restructuring of the security services.
Who is Luna Shibl?
Luna Shibl is one of the most prominent figures in the close circle of President Bashar al-Assad, serving as his special adviser and media officer in the presidential palace, as well as one of the most senior press officials in the regime’s government.
Shibl first gained public attention through the program “Angles and Columns,” which aired on Syrian television and was produced by Fouad Shurbaji. In 2003, she moved to work as a presenter on al-Jazeera before resigning in 2011 to support the Assad regime against the Syrian revolution.
After her resignation from al-Jazeera, Shibl appeared on al-Dunya TV, accusing the Qatari channel of breaching press trust by fabricating news about events in Syria.
She married Lebanese media personality Sami Kulaib, who was also a presenter on al-Jazeera. After the leaked e-mail story involving Bashar al-Assad became public, al-Shibl’s name was mentioned among the women in the correspondence. Dissatisfied with her relationship with the regime authorities, Kulaib separated from Shibl when intimate e-mails between her and Assad surfaced, officially announcing their divorce. She later married Ammar Saati, the former president of the National Union of Syrian Students and a former member of the People’s Assembly.
Luna Shibl was part of the regime’s delegation to the Geneva II conference in January 2014. The United States and Britain placed her on the sanctions list due to her close association with and support for Bashar Assad.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
