Leila Mitri Khoury

Leila was born in September 1938, in Beirut. She got married right out of middle school, settled in Achrafieh, and became a mother of six.

Her particular circumstances imposed that she would be a mother and a father to her children. Her husband was always traveling, and she was the brave woman who devoted her life to raise her children, guide them, and always be there for them. She was going to celebrate the wedding of her granddaughter a week after the horrible explosion. Unfortunately, wishes do not always come true.

Leila or "Em Elias", as she was called, is the brave woman whom everybody loved and appreciated for her generosity, compassion, and love for her friends and neighbors. If you passed by her house, you must stay for lunch; she was a kind, sweet lady.

Leila suffered from her family's dispersal in different countries of the world, and wished hard to see them all around her. She wanted to bring the family together, no matter how old she got, to be together for better or for worse.

On August 4, at the time of the explosion, Leila was home in Achrafieh with her daughter Eliane. Their house was straight out of a war zone. Leila was wounded and her neighbors evacuated her to Mount Lebanon Hospital. Her son Georges rushed to the hospital as soon as he received the news, and recognized his mother from the shirt she was wearing, she was covered in blood.

Georges approached his mother, and reassured her he was by her side. Her whole body was shaking, and she told him she was feeling a pain in her stomach. She looked at him bidding him farewell, and immediately passed away. According to the medical report, she died of internal hemorrhage, caused by the horrific explosion.