GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Louay Hussein is a Syrian pro-opposition politician who was arrested by the Syrian regime several times, beginning when he was a university student. He was banned from traveling and prevented from obtaining a passport under the rule of President Hafez al-Assad as well as under his son, Bashar.
With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, with a group of other young Syrians, Hussein founded the Building the Syrian State movement in September 2011, denouncing the current Syrian regime as authoritarian. The movement defines itself as a political organization with a futurist vision for Syria. Its involvement in the current conflict has aimed to advance patriotism.