Heba Suhaib Haj Arif was a Syrian women’s rights activist. She was a member of the Syrian Women’s Network, and previously worked as a member of the Local Council of the city of Bazaa in May 2023, before she was forced to resign. On 27 February 2024, she was found murdered in her home in Bazaa in the eastern countryside of Aleppo Governorate. She was known for her tireless work to empower and defend the rights of women in her region. She had two children. Before her murder, she worked as the director of the boys’ department of a school affiliated with the organisation Yeni Adam, which means “the new step” in Arabic. Sources close to her confirmed that she had received threats two weeks before her murder to resign from working in this organisation, but she submitted her complaint to the town police, which is controlled by gunmen from the Al-Hamza Division.