Rania Sabet

Dr. Rania Sabet (Arabic: الدكتور رانيا محمود الثابت; b. 11 May 1984 in Beirut) is a Lebanese politician and former professor, who has served since September 2018 as Chairwoman of the State Elections Committee, the primary institution responsible for administering federal and republican elections in the Arab Union.

Born to a Maronite Christian mother and an Ismaili Shia father, Sabet considers herself an agnostic and does not openly practice any particular religion, although she has described herself as spiritual. She graduated from secondary school in 2000, and between 2001 and 2013 attended the American University of Beirut, from which she graduated in mid-2013 with a PhD in political science. Between 2014 and 2017, she taught undergrad political science at Damascus University; during this time, she was one of the leaders of Damascus University's National Guard battalion, having served as a member of the National Guard since 2002, at first part of the American University of Beirut battalion; as such, Sabet served with the National Guard and was thus highly trained well before the outbreak of civil war (the Arab Winter) in 2011.

Due to the start of the Battle of Damascus in 2017, which would prove to be one of the final decisive engagements of the war, Sabet was forced to abandon her position at Damascus University along with the rest of the faculty and students. She joined the Arab Army's officer corps in August 2017, and a month later was posted to the Republican Guard, several regiments of which were leading the assault on remaining terrorist forces around Nasser City and Damascus, including her own. On 5 July 2018, Sabet's convoy was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED); two of her five fellow soldiers were killed in the attack, but Sabet sustained only a broken leg and broken pelvis, spending five weeks in hospital after which she had fully recovered, although was no longer able to participate in battlefield operations. For the better part of the following year, until 19