Bassem Mroue

Stay informed with Bassem Mroue’s coverage and analysis for Fortune.

A U.S. soldier keeps watch during a patrol in Syria’s northeastern city Qamishli, in the Hasakeh province, mostly controlled by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on January 9, 2025. Turkey has long been rankled by United States support for the Kurdish-led SDF in northern Syria. Ankara sees the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as an extension of its outlawed domestic foe the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). But Washington has long seen the SDF — which spearheaded the fight that defeated Islamic State group jihadists in 2019 — as crucial to preventing a jihadist resurgence in the area. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump pledges retaliation after 3 Americans are killed in Syria attack that the U.S. blames on the Islamic State group

By Samar Kassabali, Bassem Mroue, and others

People walk with humanitarian aid packages that they received from a distribution centre run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), at the so-called “Netzarim corridor”, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on September 30, 2025. The US president on September 29 laid out a plan to end the war in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he backed the proposal. The two allies demanded approval by Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered a massive Israeli offensive, with Netanyahu warning he will “finish the job” if Hamas says no. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump orders Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas partially accepts his peace plan

By Wafaa Shurafa, Bassem Mroue, and others

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah

Hezbollah confirms its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike

By Bassem Mroue, Melanie Lidman, and others

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, speaks during a briefing with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley at the Pentagon in Washington, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

America retaliates against a drone attack that killed a US contractor with airstrikes in Syria

By Lou Kesten, Bassem Mroue, and others