AP swift to the story when Bashar Assad’s government falls 

By The Syria Team

The fall of the authoritarian government of Bashar Assad in Syria to rebel fighters came swiftly and unexpectedly, but AP’s Middle East team rose to the challenge. 

Beirut-based photographer Hussein Malla was the first in, rushing to the border as soon as AP learned that Assad had gone. His photos were all over front pages, blogs and coverage of digital customers. He also shot video for AP broadcast and digital customers. Malla’s speed and bravery on the story meant that the AP was at least a day ahead of Reuters on photos. AP photos were more widely published than AFP, in a country that AFP has historically been stronger. 

Malla’s speed meant that AP was one of the first two foreign media organizations – with the BBC – to enter Syria after Assad’s fall. 

AP had the main front page photo in: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The Globe & Mail, El Pais, Le Razon, The Daily Mail, The National Post, Corriere Della Sera, Rheinische Post, The National Post, Svenska Dagbladet, Göteborgs-Posten, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Philadelphia Inquirer, O Estado de Sao Paulo, Metro UK, El Perodico, La Journada, China Daily, Al-Watan (Saudi), Haaretz, Israel Hayom, Faro De Vigo, Morgen Post, Hindustan (Varanasi), Derík N, BZ Zeitung and many more. 

 
Sarah El Deeb, Fay Abuelgasim and Abby Sewell were among the team that followed, meeting our freelancers from Idlib and those already in Damascus.  Abuelgasim and the video team established the first live shots from the capital, capturing the celebrations and then the trauma from prisons and mass burial sites.  

El Deeb wrote a powerful story about the hopes, the fears, the challenges ahead, for the people she has met over the course of the dramatic week following Assad’s demise. Sewell wrote about Palestinians returning to the Yarmouk camp near Damascus from which they had fled during Syria’s civil war. 

All the teams juggled newsgathering and live demands, in challenging, emotional and rapidly changing dynamics. The overall coverage was enhanced by the team having covered Assad’s brutal dictatorship for decades. 

   Besides Malla, Abuelgasim, Sewell and El Deeb, notable contributions came from video journalists Bassam Hatoum and Malak Harb, photographer Leonardo Correa, drivers Bassam Masri, Issam Masri and Ahmad Bazazu, Rania Khadr, Lucas Mailander, Philip Crowther, Abdulrahman Shaheen, Omar Sanadiki, Albert Aji, Ghaith Alsayed, Omar Albam, Hogir Abdo and photographer Khalil Hamra, who travelled into Aleppo from Turkey.