Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Hadeel Al-Shalchi is NPR's International Correspondent based in Istanbul.
Al-Shalchi joined NPR in 2020 as an editor on Weekend Edition and was a reporter with the International Desk covering the Israel-Hamas war. She was one of the first journalists to report from Syria after the fall of the Assad regime where she produced on-the-ground coverage that combined rigorous journalism with human-centered narratives that included an exclusive. More recently, she was in Beirut covering Israel's renewed war against Hezbollah.
Before joining NPR, Al-Shalchi covered the Middle East for 12 years for The Associated Press and Reuters, living in Cairo, Beirut, and Tripoli, Libya. She traveled the region extensively during the Arab Spring, reporting on the wars in Libya and Syria. She began her career as a newsreader and reporter at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Ottawa.
An Iraqi Canadian, Al-Shalchi was born in Kuwait, raised in Abu Dhabi, and went to high school and university in Canada. She has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Ottawa and a master's degree in digital journalism from New York University. She is fluent in three Arabic dialects and speaks conversational French. She is an avid powerlifter and working towards a certificate to become a personal trainer.
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U.S. threats erupt into attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran retaliates against U.S. targets in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in the first exchange of fire since July 29. -
Instead of collapsing, the Iranian regime has dug in its heels and taken an even harder line. -
The Trump administration calls this an "economic D-Day" on Iran. Iran vows to respond to fresh sanctions in a "seismic manner." -
Iran holds a funeral procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei more than four months after he was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes. -
Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, was killed in an airstrike on Feb. 28 at the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. -
Trumps says Israel and Hezbollah will stop fighting after Iran stops talks with U.S. over Israeli operations in southern Lebanon, Gaza -
The suspect who attacked a synagogue in Michigan lost family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon on March 5. Relatives and neighbors in his hometown share their views on his actions. -
A storm has battered the Gaza Strip, creating misery for displaced Palestinians and delaying the search for the body of the last Israeli hostage held by militants there. -
Israel said it struck military targets in Syria's capital to intervene after clashes between Syrian security forces and Bedouins against the Druze in southern Syria. -
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
