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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Working around Iran's internet blackouts, young protesters send voice memos explaining why they're participating in anti-government protests and how they're dealing with the deadly crackdowns.
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The soccer tournament is being played in the Middle East for the first time. Qatar's role in the region, aspirations and human rights record are in the spotlight as it hosts the World Cup.
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There are mass resignations at Twitter after Musk's ultimatum. Pelosi's historic leadership will end — who's lining up to succeed her? Congress is involved in the Ticketmaster-Taylor Swift fiasco.
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Congresswoman Karen Bass was elected mayor of Los Angeles, making her the first woman and second African American to lead the city. The race was dominated by voters' concerns about homelessness.
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Republicans gain control of the House. Trump's ex-CFO is on the stand in a criminal tax fraud trial. Ukraine and its partners disagree on the source of a missile that exploded in Poland.
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A Russian missile hit an apartment building in Kyiv. There were reports of more strikes in other cities, east to west, north to south. This included Lviv in the west, near the border with Poland.
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President Biden says preliminary information contests the idea that a deadly explosion in Poland, along the border with Ukraine, was the result of a missile fired by Russia.
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NATO held an emergency meeting after a missile explosion in Poland. Russian missiles strikes hit Ukraine's capital Kyiv. And, former President Donald Trump announces he's running again in 2024.
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Congress is back for a lame-duck session as midterm results are being decided. A Democrat defeats an election denier in Arizona's governor race. Tales of Russian occupation emerge from Kherson.
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President Biden talks to China's President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Bali while the two countries' tensions are high. Disagreements includes status of Taiwan, trade and Russia's war in Ukraine.