Christina Assi

Christina Assi
Born1995 (age 29/30)
Lebanon
Alma materNotre Dame University–Louaize, Lebanon
OccupationPhotojournalist
Known forAdvocating for the protection of journalists
AwardsBBC 100 Women 2024

Christina Assi (Arabic: كريستينا عاصي; born 1995) is a Lebanese photojournalist and photo editor. After losing a leg in an Israeli tank attack in southern Lebanon in October 2023, she began campaigning for journalists' safety.

Biography

Christina Assi was born in Lebanon. Growing up there in the 1990s, she lived through the instability of the civil war that she documented in multiple stories. In 2005, she moved to Doha, capital city of Qatar, with her family.[1] Assi graduated from the Notre Dame University-Louaize in Lebanon with a bachelor's degree in communications and journalism.[2] In 2018, she began to work for Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Cyprus as a photo editor.[1]

View from a high point of a settlement with dispersed multi-storey residential buildings, greenery and the sea in the distance on a clear day
Bay of Jounieh, coastal village situated north of Beirut. Picture taken from an apartment building's balcony in Rabieh, Lebanon

In February 2022, she was wounded when covering the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, but was able to continue working.[3] On 13 October 2023, while live reporting on a column of smoke on the Israeli-Lebanese border along with six other journalists,[4][5][6] she was a victim of an Israeli tank shell attack in Alma al-Shaab.[7] The attack involved two strikes and resulted in Assi losing her right leg.[4] One of the two explosions killed her best friend, Reuters correspondent Issam Abdallah. Five more of their colleagues were wounded.[1] All journalists were wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, clearly marked as press.[1][5] Assi demands that the attack would be considered a war crime.[1]

Young person in a headscarf holds up a sign reading "Say his name! Issam Abdullah, murdered by the IDF in Lebanon", surrounded by a crowd of people with Palestinian flags
A protestor holds up a sign for Issam Abdallah during mass demonstrations in London, 29 October 2023

Since then, Assi became a campaigner for journalists' safety, giving numerous interviews and propelling a rehabilitation programme for people with similar life-altering injuries.[1] On 21 July 2024, she carried the torch in Vincennes, France, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic games, representing the journalists who died in the line of duty.[4][8] She carried the torch with a colleague, journalist Dylan Collins.[9][3][10]

Awards

In the end of 2024, the BBC included Assi in its list 100 Women, which recognises the most influential women in the world each year.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Atallah, Nada Maucourant. "'I will go back behind the camera': Christina Assi's fight for justice over Israeli attack". The National. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  2. ^ "Christina Assi". The Who Is She in Lebanon. 20 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b "Los periodistas de la AFP Christina Assi y Dylan Collins, heridos en Líbano, llevan la antorcha olímpica | AFP.com" (in Spanish). AFP. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  4. ^ a b c "Journalists being forgotten on the frontline, warns injured war reporter | UN News". news.un.org. 2025-05-16. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
  5. ^ a b "It was 6 a.m. | Christina Assi". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  6. ^ "Press vests becoming a target - war reporter Christina Assi | UN Web TV". webtv.un.org. 2025-05-23. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
  7. ^ "Christina Assi". Doha Forum. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  8. ^ "Meet the Journalist Who Lost Her Leg in Israeli Strike & Carried Olympic Torch for Slain Colleagues". Democracy Now. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  9. ^ Jo, Lujain; Chehayeb, Kareem (2024-07-21). "A Lebanese photojournalist, wounded in Israeli strike, carries Olympic torch to honor journalists". AP News. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
  10. ^ "Journalist wounded in Israeli strike on Lebanon carries Olympic torch in France". Sky News. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
  11. ^ swissinfo.ch, S. W. I. (2024-12-03). "La fotógrafa de AFP Christina Assi, entre las 100 mujeres del año, según BBC" (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2025-01-02.
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