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Deborah Amos

Credit Steve Barrett

Deborah Amos covers the Middle East for NPR News. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition.

Amos travels extensively across the Middle East covering a range of stories including the rise of well-educated Syria youth who are unqualified for jobs in a market-drive economy, a series focusing on the emerging power of Turkey and the plight of Iraqi refugees.

In 2009, Amos won the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting from Georgetown University and in 2010 was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Life Time Achievement Award by Washington State University. Amos was part of a team of reporters who won a 2004 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for coverage of Iraq. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1991-1992, Amos was returned to Harvard in 2010 as a Shorenstein Fellow at the Kennedy School.

In 2003, Amos returned to NPR after a decade in television news, including ABC's Nightline and World News Tonight and the PBS programs NOW with Bill Moyers and Frontline.

When Amos first came to NPR in 1977, she worked first as a director and then a producer for Weekend All Things Considered until 1979. For the next six years, she worked on radio documentaries, which won her several significant honors. In 1982, Amos received the Prix Italia, the Ohio State Award, and a DuPont-Columbia Award for "Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown" and in 1984 she received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for "Refugees."

From 1985 until 1993, Amos spend most of her time at NPR reporting overseas, including as the London Bureau Chief and as an NPR foreign correspondent based in Amman, Jordan. During that time, Amos won several awards, including an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and a Break thru Award, and widespread recognition for her coverage of the Gulf War in 1991.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Amos is also the author of Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East (Public Affairs, 2010) and Lines in the Sand: Desert Storm and the Remaking of the Arab World (Simon and Schuster, 1992).

Amos began her career after receiving a degree in broadcasting from the University of Florida at Gainesville.

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Middle East
1:28 am
Wed March 13, 2013

Syrian Cyber-Rebel Wages War, One Hack At A Time

Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Ahmad "Harvester" Heidar is a computer software engineer whose work for the Syrian rebels includes sweeping the hard drives of detained anti-government activists, and trying to develop a robot that will help extract sniper victims in Syria. Turkish officials have given Heidar the green light to develop a prototype of his robot, which he calls Tina.
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Originally published on Wed March 13, 2013 5:27 pm

The Internet is a battleground in Syria, a place where President Bashar Assad's regime has mounted a sophisticated surveillance campaign that includes monitoring and arresting activists by tracking their Facebook pages.

The Syrian Electronic Army, an arm of the Syrian military, is in charge of the monitoring.

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The Two-Way
1:53 am
Sun March 10, 2013

In Ancient Aleppo, Plotting The Future

Credit Virginie Nguyen Hoang / AP
Syrians carry a large revolution flag and chant slogans during a protest in Aleppo, Syria, where young people and children sang songs against President Bashar Assad and the Syrian regime, Dec. 21, 2012.
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A soft-spoken, clean-shaven, 31-year-old aid worker hopes to determine, in part, the future of Aleppo, Syria's largest city.

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Middle East
7:53 am
Sun March 3, 2013

Miles From Home, Syrians Vote In Free Elections

Credit AFP / AFP/Getty Images
As Aleppo residents in the Tariq al-Bab district recover from this week's attack by Syrian regime forces, delegates from the city are in Turkey holding an election for local officials.
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Originally published on Sun March 3, 2013 8:24 am

In Syria's northern province of Aleppo, the war is far from over. Yet civilians are planning a dramatic gesture: an election for a civilian government.

This weekend, delegates from across the province are taking part in the first free vote outside of the control of President Bashar Assad's regime. Its location: Gaziantep, Turkey.

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Middle East
1:32 pm
Thu February 28, 2013

Syrian Rebels: New U.S. Aid Not Helpful Without Weapons

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Originally published on Thu February 28, 2013 3:30 pm

The top rebel commander in northern Syria was not impressed with Secretary of State John Kerry's announcement of new direct U.S. aid to the rebels and their political leaders.

Middle East
12:42 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Syrian Rebels, Secular And Islamist, Both Claim The Future

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Aamir Qureshi / AFP/Getty Images
Secular demonstrators, shown at a protest march this month in Aleppo, wave the old Syrian flag (green, white, black and red) that has become the symbol of their opposition movement.
Credit Aamir Qureshi / AFP/Getty Images
Supporters of the opposition Islamist group Al-Nusra wave their black-and-white flags during an anti-government demonstration earlier this month in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 5:17 pm

Syria's Islamists have grown in influence as the war against President Bashar Assad's government grinds on. They have proved to be effective fighters, well armed and funded.

But as Islamists have grown stronger on the battlefield, more Syrians are asking about their political ideas and what that will mean for the future of the country.

A recent confrontation between liberal protesters and Islamists in the northwestern Syrian city of Saraqeb, which was caught on video, set off a heated online debate.

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Middle East
2:43 am
Thu February 21, 2013

A Visit To A Christian Community In Syria

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Originally published on Thu February 21, 2013 3:47 am

Syria's minority Christians are caught in the middle of the country's 23-month conflict. Many members of one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East are fleeing Syria. Those who stay say they fear they will be targeted by Islamist militants — a growing force among rebels fighting President Assad's regime.

Middle East
1:20 pm
Mon February 18, 2013

Newly Displaced Syrians Head For Turkish Border

Credit Gaia Anderson / AP
Syrian people wait at a customs gate at the Turkey-Syria border near Reyhanli, Turkey, last week. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing central Syria, heading to southern Turkey.
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By and Rima Marrouch

Originally published on Mon February 18, 2013 6:01 pm

A new surge of Syrian refugees is swamping humanitarian aid agencies in southern Turkey, where official refugee camps are full.

But the newcomers may be just the tip of the iceberg. In central Syria, civilians under attack by combat jets, tanks and artillery have fled towns and villages north of the city of Hama, and thousands are on the move.

"What they do now, they burn everything ahead of them. They bomb this area with everything they've got," says Hossan Hamadah, a Syrian-American from Texas.

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Middle East
11:57 am
Tue February 5, 2013

Through Social Media, Tracking Rape In Syria

Credit John Cantlie / AFP/Getty Images
Syrian women walk through a market area in the northern city of Aleppo last November. A new website is documenting the use of rape in the Syrian conflict.
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Originally published on Tue February 5, 2013 5:17 pm

Rape has long been a weapon of war, but documenting sexual violence usually happens after a conflict is over. Researchers are taking a new path with the Syrian conflict: tracking the incidents of rape as they occur.

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Middle East
9:54 am
Wed December 26, 2012

Syria's War Leaves Its Scars On The Children

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Maysam Selmo, 8, during her first week at Albashayer School for Syrian Refugee Children in Antakya, Turkey. She and her extended family fled their village in northwestern Syria, and now live in a crowded apartment.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Principal Sally Albunni enrolls Nureddin, 11, (right) who arrived in Antakya with his mother after his father was killed two weeks earlier in Syria.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Teacher Rahaf Al Tinawie sets up a DVD player to show a video-story to her students. Tinawie teaches human resources at Albashayer and tries to help the children overcome the trauma most have experienced.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Cousins Suleiman Selmo, 9, and Kawthar Selmo, 10, receive donated clothes on their second day at the school. Many Syrian children and families are in need of basic supplies.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Teacher Emine Kusa leads a Turkish class for eighth-graders. Albashayer opened nearly two years ago when refugees began arriving in southern Turkey. A second building was recently opened to accommodate the growing number of students.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Children often show signs of trauma from their experiences inside Syria. A U.N. team interviewing Syrian kids in a refugee camp found that most lost a loved one in the fighting, and almost half have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Teachers at the school are mostly devout Muslims. Between classes, teachers Rahaf Al Tinawie and Rola Kadi take a break to pray.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Children play during recess. The school is overcrowded with 500 students and new students constantly arriving. In one recent week, 115 new students enrolled.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Many children wrestle and participate in aggressive play during recess, while others eat snacks and socialize. This rough play can be common with traumatized children.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Rola Kadi, a Syrian-American from Michigan, has been volunteering as an art teacher at the school.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Children wait for minibuses to take them home after school. The school is free for Syrian children living in Turkey.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Maysam Selmo, 8, during her first week at Albashayer School for Syrian Refugee Children in Antakya, Turkey. She and her extended family fled their village in northwestern Syria and now live in a crowded apartment.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Some Syrian children play at wrestling and fighting during recess at the Albashayer School for Syrian Refugee Children. This type of play can be common among children who have witnessed traumatic events.
Credit Jodi Hilton for NPR
Teacher Rahaf Al Tinawie counsels a student outside class at the Albashayer School for Syrian Refugee Children. Al Tinawie says many children show signs of trauma and she sometimes meets with parents to discuss the problems the children are facing.
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Originally published on Wed December 26, 2012 4:57 pm

The war in Syria is taking a huge toll on the children. An international team of researchers that interviewed Syrian kids in a refugee camp in Turkey found that 3 out of 4 have lost a loved one. Almost half have post-traumatic stress disorder and elevated levels of depression.

There are efforts to help, but it's challenging. In the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, the bell rings at 8 a.m. at the Friendship Elementary School. Syrian kids, in fresh school uniforms, cram into desks, with more than 40 students in every classroom.

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The Two-Way
10:55 am
Fri December 14, 2012

Amid Food Shortages, Syrian Opposition Now Runs Many Towns

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Odd Anderson / AFP/Getty Images
A Syrian woman carries a ration of bread on her head in the northern city of Aleppo. The Syrian opposition now runs local councils in many cities, particularly in the north. They often face major challenges in providing basics likes food, water and electricity.
Credit Odd Anderson / AFP/Getty Images
Customers shop by candlelight in a grocery store in Aleppo. The city has been hit hard by fighting in recent months, with both the opposition and the government controlling parts of the area.
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Originally published on Fri December 14, 2012 11:18 am

As the Syrian opposition gains control of large swaths of territory in the country's north, local councils are emerging as the first alternative authority after 21 months of revolt.

It is still unclear if the civilian councils can impose order in war-torn areas where rebels have the power of arms. And at least parts of major cities remain in the hands of President Bashar Assad's forces.

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