Ruth Sherlock
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.
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The Middle Eastern country had relatively few cases and had relaxed its shutdown. Residents will be asked to avoid outings except for emergencies.
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"Hydroxychloroquine is included in the [Syrian] national case management guidelines for COVID-19," though there's no evidence that it's effective, a World Health Organization representative tells NPR.
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Even with stringent lockdowns, the coronavirus has spread through migrant communities in some Middle Eastern countries where foreign workers live in cramped quarters.
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Rock bands in Lebanon recently held a concert to protest what activists see as a shrinking space for free speech.
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After objections by Christian leaders in Lebanon, organizers of a festival there canceled an upcoming appearance by Mashrou' Leila, a popular band with an openly gay lead singer.
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Oman has emerged as a quiet facilitator of dialogue, including between Iran and the U.S. "We always keep a focus not on the negative, but on the positive," says Oman's incoming U.N. ambassador.
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Lebanon requires refugees to live in shelters made of canvas or wood. A new military decree directs them to demolish concrete walls over 3 feet high by July 1. Many don't know where they'll live next.
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Seven people were killed in a bombing of a Save the Children-supported hospital in Yemen.
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An American father is on a quest to find his children who were kidnapped by their mother. She took them to Syria and joined ISIS. With ISIS collapsing, he hopes to find them there.
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The U.S. announced Thursday night it would leave a small number of troops on the ground in Syria.