Nato appoints native Arabic speaker as spokeswoman

Appointment of UK's Farah Dakhlallah comes at a challenging time for the alliance

Farah Dakhlallah has 'wide-ranging experience' in both the public and private sectors. Photo: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Nato on Monday said that it had appointed British citizen and native Arabic speaker Farah Dakhlallah as the alliance's next spokeswoman.

“In a more dangerous world, clear and timely communication, and engagement with the media, are more important than ever,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on her appointment.

Ms Dakhlallah joins Nato with “wide-ranging experience from both the public and private sectors, including the United Nations, the UK government and AstraZeneca, as well as several media organisations”, the statement continued.

Ms Dakhlallah last served as media relations director for the Middle East and Africa at AstraZeneca, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She was previously communications manager at the World Health Organisation between 2017 and 2021. Prior to that, she served as Arabic spokeswoman for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office between 2014 and 2016.

Ms Dakhlallah has obtained a master's in international relations at the University of Cambridge and a master's in media and communications at the London School of Economics. She previously studied audiovisual arts at Universite Saint Joseph in Beirut.

She succeeds Oana Lungescu, who served as spokeswoman from 2010 to 2023. Ms Lungescu was the first person born in the former Soviet bloc to be appointed to the role.

Nato currently faces a wide range of challenges including the war in Ukraine and the possible re-election of a strong critic of the alliance, Donald Trump, as president of the US later this year.