Ruth Sherlock International Correspondent, covering the Middle East
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Ruth Sherlock

Courtesy of Ruth Sherlock
Ruth Sherlock headshot
Courtesy of Ruth Sherlock

Ruth Sherlock

International Correspondent, covering the Middle East

Ruth Sherlock is an International Correspondent with National Public Radio. She's based in Beirut and reports on Syria and other countries around the Middle East. She was previously the United States Editor for the Daily Telegraph, covering the 2016 US election. Before moving to the US in the spring of 2015, she was the Telegraph's Middle East correspondent.

Sherlock reported from almost every revolution and war of the Arab Spring. She lived in Libya for the duration of the conflict, reporting from opposition front lines. In late 2011 she travelled to Syria, going undercover in regime held areas to document the arrest and torture of antigovernment demonstrators. As the war began in earnest, she hired smugglers to cross into rebel held parts of Syria from Turkey and Lebanon. She also developed contacts on the regime side of the conflict, and was given rare access in government held areas.

Her Libya coverage won her the Young Journalist of the Year prize at British Press Awards. In 2014, she was shortlisted at the British Journalism Awards for her investigation into the Syrian regime's continued use of chemical weapons. She has twice been a finalist for the Gaby Rado Award with Amnesty International for reporting with a focus on human rights. With NPR, in 2020, her reporting for the Embedded podcast was shortlisted for the prestigious Livingston Award.

Story Archive

Sunday

A Fighter from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carries out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on Sunday. Hassan Ammar/AP hide caption

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Hassan Ammar/AP

As tensions mount with Israel, Hezbollah stages a massive show of force in Lebanon

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Monday

Arab government representatives vote to return Syria to the Arab League

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Saturday

As countries normalize relations with Syria, regime victims fear no accountability

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Thursday

A Syrian American is suing the Syrian government for torture he says he suffered

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Tuesday

Talib al-Majli, 57, lives in a poor area in Baghdad. He says his detention in Abu Ghraib prison left him destitute and too physically weak and psychologically traumatized to find a reliable job. Now he works odd jobs, sometimes putting up signs for companies, earning around $30 per week. Ruth Sherlock/NPR hide caption

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Ruth Sherlock/NPR

He says U.S. troops abused him in Iraq's Abu Ghraib and his life is still ruined

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Wednesday

A look at the city of Fallujah 20 years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq

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Tuesday

Looking back on shocking revelations: U.S. forces tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib

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Monday

Where does Iraq stand now — 20 years after the U.S. invasion?

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Sunday

Young Iraqis are still trying to realize the democracy promised 20 years ago

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Saturday

20 years after the U.S. invasion, many young Iraqis say their lives were shaped by it

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Friday

Mariana Yazbek, Genebank manager, shows fava beans that are packed inside bags in the large freezer room where the seeds are stored to dry at the ICARDA research station in the village of Terbol, in the Bekaa valley, east of Lebanon, Wednesday, December 21, 2022. Dalia Khamissy for NPR hide caption

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Dalia Khamissy for NPR

How ancient seeds in Lebanon could help us adapt to climate change

In the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon, there is a giant walk-in fridge housing tens of thousands of seeds. They belong to the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Scientists from around the world use the seeds for research. ICARDA seeds have improved food security in several countries. They've transformed Ethiopian agriculture to use more drought-resistant crops. A new chickpea can be planted in winter. And now, NPR's Middle East correspondent Ruth Sherlock has found that some scientists are turning to the seed bank for answers to a hotter, drier planet. They're hoping ICARDA seeds will lead to breakthroughs in certain crops' resilience to the effects of climate change.

How ancient seeds in Lebanon could help us adapt to climate change

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Wednesday

How are Syrians finding shelter in an earthquake zone that's also a war zone?

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Tuesday

New routes are allowing earthquake aid to reach rebel parts of Syria

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Medine Sonmez (right) has been emotional in the days since the earthquake. "I am gone," she says. "My body is here but I am gone." Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

Saturday

Northern Syria is desperate for aid after the earthquake

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People walk past collapsed buildings on Thursday in the town of Jinderis, in Syria's Aleppo province, days after a massive earthquake devastated the region. Ghaith Alsayed/AP hide caption

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Ghaith Alsayed/AP

Northern Syria, already ravaged by war, is desperate for aid after the earthquake

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Friday

A rare glimpse of the earthquake aftermath in rebel-held Syria

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Thursday

Syrians warm up by a fire at a make-shift shelter for people who were left homeless, near the rebel-held town of Jindayris on Feb. 8, 2023. RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images

Wednesday

In Turkey, a mother tries to save a son trapped in the rubble

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Tuesday

Rescue crews in Turkey and Syria continue to search through rubble for survivors

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Men search for people among the debris in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, Monday. Khalil Hamra/AP hide caption

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Khalil Hamra/AP

Earthquake death toll tops 7,700 in Turkey and Syria as race for survivors continues

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Rescuers search for survivors after a major quake hits Turkey and Syria

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Monday

Earthquake strikes Turkey and Syria: Buildings collapsed for hundreds of miles

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