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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Israel gives civilians four-hours a day to flee fighting in North Gaza. Are Democrats reenergized after a strong showing in Tuesday's elections? Crossings at the U.S. southern border are at a high.
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Abood Okal, Wafaa Abuzayda and their 1-year-old son are back in Massachusetts after spending 27 days in Gaza. They don't know whether they'll be able to see their families or return to the area again. -
Since Oct. 7, Nathan Thrall's book events on Abed Salama's tragedy were canceled in major U.S. and U.K. cities. Salama returned home, facing more tragedy for his family in the West Bank — and in Gaza.
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Israel presses ahead with attacks along Gaza's eastern border, and it has been trading fire with a militia over its northern border. President Biden to take some big steps Monday to try to rein in AI.
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For nearly three weeks, a Massachusetts couple have been begging for a way home. They're living under bombardment and running out of supplies. They ask why the U.S. government can't get them out. -
People who lost their family and homes in the surprise incursion into Israel by Hamas reckon with the aftermath. -
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the days after Hamas' attack on southern Israel. -
In response to Hamas' surprise attack, Israel has put Gaza under siege and unleashed heavy bombardments. Gaza residents tell NPR there is no place to seek shelter, unlike in previous conflicts. -
Wafaa Abuzayda, her husband and baby were visiting family in Gaza when the fighting broke out. Now they're trapped and running low on diapers and milk. She says the U.S. embassy isn't helping. -
Many Israelis are frantically looking for clues about loved ones believed to be held in Gaza. Ido Dan keeps watching a video that appears to show Hamas militants kidnapping his 12-year-old nephew.
