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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NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Michaël Ayar of the International Crisis Group, about this Sunday's presidential election in Tunisia. President Saied is seeking another term.
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Israeli journalist Amir Tibon and his family survived the Oct. 7 attack in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on the Gaza border. His book tells the story of the kibbutz, from its founding to the attack's aftermath.
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Israel says it is using air force and artillery to support “limited” and “localized” ground raids. The offensive follows a wave of deadly explosions and two weeks of Israeli airstrikes.
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NPR’s Leila Fadel talks with former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Ryan Crocker about Israeli launching a limited ground invasion of Lebanon, and U.S. influence in the Middle East.
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Israel begins limited ground offensive into Lebanon targeting Hezbollah militants -- airstrikes kill upward of a thousand people. Vice presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz debate this evening.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Negar Mortazavi, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, about Iran’s role in the conflict in Lebanon.
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Israel’s military campaign is expanding. After assassinating Hezbollah’s leader, Israel’s air force bombed more targets in Lebanon, and stuck Houthi targets in Yemen.
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Lebanon prepares to bury Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Parts of North Carolina are underwater after massive floods. And how are the vice presidential candidates discussing veteran issues?
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Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida. Israel's prime minister to address the U.N. General Assembly. Sudan's army launches an offensive in Khartoum in a bid to regain the capital.
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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the U.N. General Assembly Friday morning as he continues to reject a U.S. backed Lebanon cease-fire proposal.