Robert Fisk, veteran Middle East correspondent of The Independent, dies at 74

Mohammed Saad , Monday 2 Nov 2020

Fisk's criticism of the US foreign policies shaped his opinion on much of the events that rocked the Middle East in recent history from the First Gulf war in 1991 to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003

Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk, as seen in This Is Not a Movie

Veteran British Journalist, Robert Fisk, who worked as a Middle East Correspondent to The Independent, has died in his home in Dublin at the age of 74.

Fisk's was admired by many internationally and in the Middle East for his diligent reporting over the course of decades.

He first joined The Independent in 1989 from The Times and became its most recognizable foreign correspondent.

He continued to write for The Independent until his death, according to the Independent's eulogy of him.

The Independent described Fisk as possessing "courage in questioning official narratives from governments and publishing what he uncovered in frequently brilliant prose."

The New York Times once described him in 2005 as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain.”

Christian Broughton, The Independent's managing director described him as a “fearless, uncompromising, determined and utterly committed to uncovering the truth and reality at all costs."

Fisk, who was born in Kent, and studied at Lancaster University, began his career on Fleet Street at the Sunday Express.

He went on to work for The Times, where he was based in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East.

Fisk was a fair observer of the Arab Israeli conflict, becoming one of the few writers in Western media to deliver the voice of Palestinians in the struggle against Israeli occupation.

He wrote critically of the authoritarian practices of Arab regimes prior to the Arab Spring in 2011.

He covered the Middle East issues from the civil war in Lebanon to the Iraq-Iran conflict, and interviewed Osama Bin laden three times in the 1990’s.

Fisk authored many books including The Great War of Civilizations: The Conquest of the Middle East (2005), Pity the Nation (1990), Robert Fisk on Egypt: A Betrayed Revolution (2015), The Age of the Warrior (2008), Islamic Extremism: Middle East in Crisis (2015), Robert Fisk on Afghanistan: Osama Bin Laden: 9/11 to Death in Pakistan (2016).

Fisk's criticism of the US foreign policies shaped his opinion on much of the events that rocked the Middle East in recent history from the First Gulf war in 1991 to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In more recent years, Fisk's portrayal of the Syrian conflict was criticized by some commentators, who charged that he "abandoned journalism for storytelling" in delivering positive coverage of the Assad regime vis-a-vis international condemnation of its war crimes. 

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