Hadeel Al-Shalchi
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. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world. -
Israel's military says the nine nuclear scientists killed played spent decades working on Iran's nuclear program. -
The Israeli military said Iran launched retaliatory strikes throughout the night. This followed a major Israeli attack on Friday, targeting Iran's nuclear facilities and killing top military leaders. -
Israel launched an airstrike on Iran overnight. Blasts were heard in the capital Tehran around 3am local time. Israel's defense ministry warned it expects missile and drone retaliation. -
For the third time in as many days, Palestinians in Gaza have been shot while trying to get food. Israel has acknowledged that its soldiers opened fire on people who were approaching them. -
While the militant group says it will release 10 living and 18 deceased hostages still held in Gaza, there appear to be other details that need to be worked out before a ceasefire is declared. -
Edan Alexander, an Israeli soldier raised in New Jersey, is believed to be the last living U.S. citizen captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Four other Americans' bodies are still held in Gaza. -
At the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites, Mike Huckabee said he'd brought a note with a prayer for peace handwritten by President Trump, who had instructed him to insert it into the wall. -
The killing of a Palestinian American teen by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank has sparked an outcry from relatives and community members in the Palestinian territory as well as the U.S. -
It's Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's second visit to the White House since President Trump took office this year, and comes as Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza hits the 18-month mark.
