We visit the hometown of the ousted Syrian President, Bashir al-Assad. Qardaha lies in northwest Syria, considered the heartlands of the Alawite religious sect.
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Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Hadeel al-Shalchi is an editor with Weekend Edition. Prior to joining NPR, Al-Shalchi was a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press and covered the Arab Spring from Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, and Libya. In 2012, she joined Reuters as the Libya correspondent where she covered the country post-war and investigated the death of Ambassador Chris Stephens. Al-Shalchi also covered the front lines of Aleppo in 2012. She is fluent in Arabic.
Martin Patience
Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.