Arwa Damon is a news correspondent with the CNN network. She was previously based in Beirut but is now located in Istanbul. She especially covers the political news in the Middle East and is known for her no holds barred reportage of global events. She was responsible for the American part of the world becoming aware of Middle Eastern issues such as the Operation Steel Curtain and the Second Battle of Fallujah. She also covered the Iraq War quite extensively.
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Early Life and Beginning of Career
Arwa Damon was born on September 19, 1977. Her birthplace is Boston in Massachusetts but she spent most of her growing up years in another city of the same state, Wayland. Her mother is Syrian from the city of Damascus, while her father is Dr. George H. Damon, Jr., an American scholar. Her grandfather was the former Syrian Kurd PM, Muhsin al-Barazi. He was part of the 1949 military coup and had met with a sentence to be executed.
When she was just six years old, her family relocated to various Middle Eastern cities, including Morocco and then Istanbul. There her father worked as an educator. She got schooled in Turkey and finally completed her graduation from Robert College.
After completing her graduation, she shifted to the US in New York for further studies at Saratoga Springs. Here she accomplished a double major graduation in biology and French. She also did a minor graduation in international affairs. She spent her initial years working for a Turkish textile firm.
As a Reporter
Damon became a reporter after the September 11 attacks. She started out with Camera Planet and worked as a freelance producer for various channels such as Fox News, PBS, and CNN. Finally, she signed a contract of exclusivity with CNN.
She was instrumental in reporting the invasion of Iraq. She covered events such as the Battle of Najaf and the Battle for Samarra. She also covered the Second War of Fallujah. In her non-War reportage, she has covered the Iraqi elections and the trials of global leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Awad Hamed al-Bandar.
In 2010, she also covered the Arab Spring. She was active during the Bengazi attack in 2012, being one of the first reporters to be present on the scene and unearthed some important and vital documents for the same.
Personal Life
There are no reports about her being married. Though there were rumors on social networking websites about a wedding, there is no information of her having a husband from any confirmed sources. She is quite secretive about her personal life and guards it closely.
On her professional front, she has been awarded multiple times in her several years as an investigative reporter. She has been featured in globally reputed magazines such as Vogue and has been presented with the IRE Award and even an Emmy Award in 2012 for her reporting of the Egyptian Revolution. She is also one of the recipients of the Courage in Journalism Award. Other details about her professional life such as her salary are not in the public domain.
Last Modified: Apr 7, 2020
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