Leila Mustafa

Leila Mustafa was a Syrian civil engineer and politician who was co-chair of the Civil Council of Raqqa, Syria, which has been under joint Arab-Kurdish control since April 2017. She was born on 12 September 1988 in Raqqa and studied civil engineering before the Syrian Civil War. In 2013, she fled with her family to al-Hasakah after Raqqa was taken over by rebels and then by ISIS. She became involved in the Syrian Democratic Council and the Syrian Democratic Forces, which fought against ISIS and liberated Raqqa in 2017. She was chosen by a group of community leaders to run the new civilian council and oversee the reconstruction of the city, which had been devastated by the war. She faced many challenges restoring basic services and infrastructure, as well as promoting stability and coexistence among the diverse population of Raqqa. She was a supporter of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. She won the international World Mayor Jury Award in 2021 for her leadership and courage. She died from complications during surgery on 25 November 2023, at the age of 35. She was widely mourned and praised as a symbol of a free and ambitious woman who struggled to establish democracy and peace in Syria.