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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Caught in limbo after the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Kurdish families struggle with cold, loss and uncertainty — feeling abandoned by the U.S. allies they once fought alongside. -
Prospect of new Iran-U.S. ceasefire talks this weekend collapse as President Trump cancels U.S. delegation's trip to the meeting and Iran consults with allies.
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Syrian Kurds ran their own autonomous region for 12 years after breaking away from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Now, in the new Syria, they are being forced to relinquish that autonomy, losing much of what they fought for. -
NPR visits the last detention camp for ISIS wives and children in an increasingly precarious northeastern Syria. -
One of the biggest targets of Iranian attacks has been in Iraq, against armed Iranian opposition bases in the Kurdistan region. Many opposition fighters see this moment as an chance to go home.
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At least 15 U.S. military personnel were wounded in an Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi rebels entered the war with an attack on Israel.
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In the Kurdish regions of the Middle East, Nowruz celebrations — honoring the arrival of spring — are a fundamental expression of Kurdish identity. -
NPR's Jane Arraf reports on developments in the war in the Middle East.
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Kurdistan's deputy prime minister tells NPR that Kurdish forces will not enter Iran or join the war, insisting "this is not our war" despite pressure from Washington and regional tensions.
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Tensions in Lebanon are soaring as Hezbollah renews its attacks on Israel.
