CAIRO: Vivian Salama, a television and print journalist who has reported on the Middle East for over a decade, has been named as Baghdad bureau chief for The Associated Press.
The appointment was announced by Ian Phillips, AP's Middle East news director based in Cairo.
Salama, 34, succeeds Adam Schreck, who is now based in Dubai and oversees AP coverage of the Gulf countries as well as Iran. Salama will be the senior reporter and will lead a team of reporters, photographers, video journalists and support staff covering Iraq.
"The AP is one of the few international news organizations to have maintained a continuous presence in Iraq before and after the US occupation," said John Daniszewski, vice president and senior managing editor for international news in New York.
"With Iraq again front and center in the news, Salama is a serious student of the region and her expertise will inform AP's reporting as the drama continues."
"She is an accomplished journalist who will write with authority about the challenges facing Iraq and who understands the power of visual storytelling," said Phillips.
Salama, who speaks Arabic and holds a master's degree in Middle East and Islamic Studies from Columbia University, has covered major stories overseas including Egypt's historic presidential election, the resurgence of violence in Iraq and drone deaths in Yemen.
She begins her new position in Iraq at a critical time for the country as security unravels nearly three years after the US military withdrew. Sunni militants have overrun several cities in northwestern Iraq near Syria, hoping to exploit the chaos to link territories they control on both sides of the border.
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