Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Reporter, International Desk
Hadeel Al-Shalchi is a reporter currently based in the Middle East covering the conflicts there.
Al-Shalchi started her career in 2004 as a newsreader and reporter for the local CBC radio station in Ottawa, Canada. Prior to joining NPR, Al-Shalchi was a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press and covered the Arab Spring from Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Libya. In 2012, she joined Reuters as the Libya correspondent where she covered the country post-war and investigated the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens. Al-Shalchi also covered the front lines of Aleppo in 2012.
Al-Shalchi was among the first Western journalists to enter Damascus after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. She covered the jubilation of the first Friday prayers after Assad's fall to the fear felt by some communities across the country with the rapid changes. This includes an NPR scoop: an interview with one of the top figures from Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, as the rebel group transitions to a governing force. Maher Marwan, installed as the de facto new governor of Damascus, told Al-Shalchi that this new Syrian leadership wanted cordial tries with Israel, and wanted US help to facilitate those ties. That interview sent shockwaves across the Arab and Israeli media landscape. Al-Shalchi also travelled deep into the country, to visit Assad's hometown, and to talk to those Syrian's now free to visit the once off-limits seaside villa of the Assad clan. She also broke ground reporting from the Golan Heights, covering the displacement and fears of some locals after Israeli troops took over a demilitarized buffer zone there.
An Iraqi-Canadian, Al-Shalchi was born in Kuwait, raised in Abu Dhabi, went to high school and university in Canada, and worked and lived in Cairo, Beirut, Libya, New York, and Washington, DC . Al-Shalchi has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, and a Master's degree in digital journalism from New York University. Her party trick is being fluent in three Arabic dialects.
When Al-Shalchi isn't in the Middle East, she is an editor with Weekend Edition.
