Rima Maktabi (born 4 July 1977)[1] (Arabic: ريما مكتبي) is a Lebanese TV presenter and award-winning journalist who returned to al-Arabiya after hosting CNN's monthly program Inside the Middle East for two years and previously working at the Arab satellite channel since 2005.

[2] She was among several female Arab journalists who first became known through her reporting during the 2006 Lebanon War and who had successful careers afterward, including Maktabi and her former colleague at al-Arabiya Najwa Qassem.

[5] Rima Maktabi began her career in television with Lebanon's Future TV where she was a game show host and a weather presenter for 10 years.

The Arab TV news channels, such as al-Arabiya, al-Jazeera, NTV, and LBC-TV, introduced female reporters in numbers to the war zone for the first time during this conflict.

[7] While at al-Aribiya, Maktabi reported on significant events like elections in Iran and Lebanon, the conflict in Lebanon between the Lebanese Internal Security Forces and Fatah al-Islam militants at the Palestinian camp Nahr al-Bared in 2007, Arab League summits in Riyadh and Doha, the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, and the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.

[5][13] During this period, Maktabi covered notable events for CNN such as the beginning of the Arab Spring uprising in Tunisia, Egypt, and protests in Jordan and Bahrain.

[2][14] She covered the Syrian civil war from CNN offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Lebanon, and Abu Dhabi as foreign reporters were forbidden entry inside Syria.