Alice Fordham
Alice Fordham is an NPR International Correspondent based in Beirut, Lebanon.
In this role, she reports on Lebanon, Syria and many of the countries throughout the Middle East.
Before joining NPR in 2014, Fordham covered the Middle East for five years, reporting for The Washington Post, the Economist, The Times and other publications. She has worked in wars and political turmoil but also amid beauty, resilience and fun.
In 2011, Fordham was a Stern Fellow at the Washington Post. That same year she won the Next Century Foundation's Breakaway award, in part for an investigation into Iraqi prisons.
Fordham graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics.
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The Obama administration's strategy for combating the Islamic State relies on ground forces provided by Iraq and Syria because the White House says it will not send U.S. combat troops. In Iraq, that means trying to win back Sunnis in areas where the group controls territory. Something similar happened during the Iraq war: it was called the Sunni Awakening.
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American airstrikes pounded Islamic State position in Iraq's Western Anbar province to allow a coalition of tribal fighters and Iraqi forces to make gains.
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As Iraqi and American forces battle militants in the north, there are fears the turmoil could fuel new killings in the capital. -
Peter Theo Curtis was released by Jabhat al-Nusra, known as the Nusra Front. Last week, American journalist James Foley was beheaded in Syria by the group which now calls itself the Islamic State.
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More than 40 mosques in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged in the recent fighting. -
Their hopes for peace dashed, Palestinians in Gaza are returning to UN shelters — despite the discomfort and uncertain safety — as fighting between Hamas and Israel resumes.
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War's toll on Gaza has been brutal, claiming civilians' lives and leveling buildings. But Hamas and many Gazans say the conflict was necessary, because they had run out of options in negotiating. If Palestinians come away with concessions after peace talks in Egypt, many think the damage will all have been worthwhile.
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There is fierce fighting at several dams in Iraq. The extremists of the Islamic State have already deliberately flooded some areas, displacing people, destroying crops and polluting the water supply. -
For centuries, Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds had coexisted in Mosul, but some fear ruptures there may be harbingers of the partition of Iraq. If that happens, Ahmed Ali may never see his farm again. -
The militant group that calls itself the Islamic State have begun a new round of fighting with the Syrian regime, surrounding a base outside its stronghold in Raqqa and launching offensives in Aleppo province and Kurdish regions. The death toll in Syria this week reportedly has reached 1,700, most of whom are combatants of one sort or another.
