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 speaks with Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson after he received a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi threatening criminal prosecution for impeding immigration enforcement.
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Israeli military to call up 60,000 reservists as it plans to seize Gaza City, Pentagon officials meet with European counterparts over Ukraine security guarantees, Hurricane Erin lashes North Carolina.
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"Maybe I have become a kind of symbol of hope": Ukrainian woman survives nine-story fall in Russian drone strike. -
Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, talks about what's ahead for Ukraine and Russia following President Trump's meetings with the leaders of both countries.
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NPR's Leila Fadel interviews actress Margaret Qualley about her role in Ethan Coen's neo-noir comedy "Honey Don't!" She stars as a private detective investigating a cultish California church
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office is posting over-the-top social media content that mirrors President Trump's style. NPR asks a media and psychology expert about its effectiveness.
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How are philanthropic organizations working to bridge the funding gap created by the rescission cuts passed earlier this year?
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier, a Democrat who slept in the Texas House chamber after refusing Republicans' demand that Democrats leave only with police escort. -
What's next for President Trump's push to broker an end to Russia's war on Ukraine after extraordinary meetings with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday?
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Trump plans next steps to broker an end to Russia's war on Ukraine, a look at Moscow's view of the peace talks, California lawmakers seek to overhaul the state's congressional map to counter Texas.
