Jane Arraf
Jane Arraf covers Egypt, Iraq, and other parts of the Middle East for NPR News.
Arraf joined NPR in 2016 after two decades of reporting from and about the region for CNN, NBC, the Christian Science Monitor, PBS Newshour, and Al Jazeera English. She has previously been posted to Baghdad, Amman, and Istanbul, along with Washington, DC, New York, and Montreal.
She has reported from Iraq since the 1990s. For several years, Arraf was the only Western journalist based in Baghdad. She reported on the war in Iraq in 2003 and covered live the battles for Fallujah, Najaf, Samarra, and Tel Afar. She has also covered India, Pakistan, Haiti, Bosnia, and Afghanistan and has done extensive magazine writing.
Arraf is a former Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Her awards include a Peabody for PBS NewsHour, an Overseas Press Club citation, and inclusion in a CNN Emmy.
Arraf studied journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa and began her career at Reuters.
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King Abdullah appointed economist Omar Razzaz as his new prime minister. It will be up to Razzaz to defuse a crisis over a plan that would levy income tax even on those earning $11,000 a year. -
Ahmed Alaa describes hoisting a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo as the "best five minutes of his life." Now he faces years in prison and says his family and his life have been destroyed.
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Iraqis voted in their first election since the military defeat of ISIS over the weekend. While final results have not been issued, one near-certain result is the political rise of Iraq's Shiite militias.
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Rallies opposing the U.S.-led bombing of Syria took place in Iraq over the weekend. The U.S., France and Britain conducted airstrikes after the Syrian regime used suspected chemical weapons..
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An Iraqi man who famously took a sledge hammer to a statue of Saddam Hussein during the U.S. invasion 15 years ago looks back at what has happened to his country since then.
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For years, Kurdish fighters have protected the Yazidis, a persecuted minority oppressed by ISIS in northern Iraq. Now those fighters are leaving the region.
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Egypt has a presidential election starting Monday, but the winner is almost certain already: Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. And tight restrictions limit discussion of other options.
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With elections next week almost certain to give Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi another term, reporters aren't supposed to ask people how they vote.
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U.S.-backed Iraqi forces drove the militants out of the city eight months ago, but residents say hardly any efforts are in place to rebuild homes after airstrikes and explosions toppled them. -
In Iraq, it's not easy trying to navigate life as a young woman — particularly when your culture doesn't give girls many choices. Add war and poverty on top of that and it's even harder.
