Leila Fadel
Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based in Los Angeles, covering issues of culture, diversity, and race.
Most recently, she was NPR's international correspondent based in Cairo and covered the wave of revolts in the Middle East and their aftermaths in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and beyond. Her stories brought us to the heart of a state-ordered massacre of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Cairo in 2013 when police shot into crowds of people to clear them and killed between 1,000 and 2,000 people. She told us the tales of a coup in Egypt and what it is like for a country to go through a military overthrow of an elected government. She covered the fall of Mosul to ISIS in 2014 and documented the harrowing tales of the Yazidi women who were kidnapped and enslaved by the group. Her coverage also included stories of human smugglers in Egypt and the Syrian families desperate and willing to pay to risk their lives and cross a turbulent ocean for Europe.
She was awarded the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club for her coverage of the 2013 coup in Egypt and the toll it took on the country and Egyptian families. In 2017 she earned a Gracie award for the story of a single mother in Tunisia whose two eldest daughters were brainwashed and joined ISIS. The mother was fighting to make sure it didn't happen to her younger girls.
Before joining NPR, she covered the Middle East for The Washington Post as the Cairo Bureau Chief. Prior to her position as Cairo Bureau Chief for the Post, she covered the Iraq war for nearly five years with Knight Ridder, McClatchy Newspapers, and later the Washington Post. Her foreign coverage of the devastating human toll of the Iraq war earned her the George. R. Polk award in 2007. In 2016 she was the Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow fellow.
Leila Fadel is a Lebanese-American journalist who speaks conversational Arabic and was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
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New U.S. strikes on Iran come as the two countries try to reach a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz. Israel thinks it will be a bad deal, and it's increasing attacks in Lebanon.
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U.S. military says it struck Iran Monday in "self-defense," Russia threatens more strikes against Ukraine, Texas GOP voters head to polls for primary that could shape future of the party.
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As Kyiv recovers from a Russian attack that hit every district in the Ukrainian capital, Ukraine continues long-range strikes on Russia's war machine even as the Kremlin threatens more strikes.
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Negotiations to end the war in Iran are "proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner," President Trump wrote Sunday, though he added that he told his negotiators "not to rush into a deal."
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Trump touts breakthrough in negotiations to end Iran war, Middle Eastern countries react to news of a potential deal to end war, Africa races to contain a fast-spreading Ebola outbreak.
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In post-Maduro Venezuela, promised political prisoner releases fall short again—only dozens freed as hundreds remain jailed, fueling doubts over reforms.
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Senate breaks for recess, delaying vote on ICE funding, DNC releases 'autopsy' of 2024 presidential election, a look at Trump's political -- and personal -- interest in Cuba.
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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants an apology from Israel over the treatment of Italian citizens on a flotilla bound for Gaza.
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Republicans work to pass reconciliation bill but ballroom money may get left out, Trump says Gulf allies persuaded him not to resume attacks on Iran, U.S. indicts Cuba's former President Raúl Castro.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Joseph Westphal, former U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, about the current state of limbo for countries in the Gulf Arab States.
