International Correspondent for NPR, covering Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, migration and more. Based in Rome. Half Italian, half British.

Joined July 2010
504 Photos and videos
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
With the Israeli military standing by, the Asasa family was left with no choice but to ***bow to the settler's demands*** and carry the father's body from the grave Harrowing report by NPR's @Rsherlock and Nuha Musleh in the West Bank Listen:šŸ‘‚ npr.org/2026/05/10/nx-s1-581…
2
1
505
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.
6,748
29,200
125,026
9,570,755
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
ā€˜There was permission to kill 300 people as collateral damage.’ Israeli intelligence whistleblowers expose the ā€˜non-human’ targeting system in Gaza, where strikes are approved in minutes, as more than 70,000 have been killed in Gaza since October 7th.
238
6,519
9,991
1,137,590
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
Sparing cultural sites in war is so important that the Pentagon even went to the trouble of designing/distributing decks of cards to boost awareness among troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president's comments prompted me to find the deck I was given some years back:
19
714
1,478
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
Additional footage of the two oil tankers struck by Iran in the northern Persian Gulf tonight, both reportedly loaded with Iraqi oil. The tankers have been completely engulfed in flame, and are leaking burning oil.
325
1,729
7,469
1,229,702
🚨 GAS LINES IN CHINA - Grok has verified that the video below is real: Thousands of Chinese drivers lining up at gas stations to fill their tanks before major price increases go into effect. This is what things looked like in the US lduring the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 when gas was rationed and drivers could only gas up on alternate days based on the last number on their car's license plates. This is what US drivers no longer have to worry about thanks to the #Shale Revolution and #Trump #EnergyDominance agenda. Be grateful.
758
3,067
11,994
1,329,646
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
In addition to billions of taxpayer dollars being burned in this war in Iran, reports are showing that Sec. Pete Hegseth blew $93 billion in federal DOD funding at the end of last year on: $3.5 billion for cable TV $225 million for furniture $15.1 million for ribeye steaks $6.9 million for lobster tails $2 million for Alaskan king crab $1 million for salmon $140,000 for donuts $124,000 for ice cream machines $99,000 for a grand piano $26,000 for a violin $21,750 for a Japanese flute $12,000 for fruit basket stands You better believe we’ll be investigating. newrepublic.com/post/207555/…
2,305
4,269
10,026
361,412
This detailed investigation ( props to @ntabrizy and @ChrisOsieck šŸ’Ŗ) cites a military expert saying a 2,000 pound bomb was likely used on this site, in this city. Human Rights Watch @hrw and @amnesty and others have repeatedly warned against using these bombs with a wide blast radius in residential areas.
NEW for @newlinesmag, @ChrisOsieck and I investigated a March 5 air strike on an EMS base and recreational area in Zibashahr Park, Shiraz. 20 people were reportedly killed, including 3 medical workers. A review of post-strike videos and images, along with satellite imagery and mapping data, shows that this civilian park was directly hit, raising questions about whether the incident was a case of mistaken targeting. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/ai…
2
14
29
5,197
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
This footage directly contradicts Trump’s claim that Iran hit the school in Minab.
BREAKING: New footage shows a U.S. Tomahawk missile hitting an IRGC site in Minab, Iran, on Feb. 28—confirming the U.S. strike. Smoke is already rising near the girls’ school where about 175 people, many children, were killed. Source: @Easybakeovensz
63
721
3,618
218,064
Is the US using 2000-pound JDAM bombs on urban areas in Iran? At the Turkish border crossing many fleeing Tehran tell us they are seeing huge explosions that are collapsing homes for many meters "to the right and left of their targets". These bombs, even adapted for "precision" targeting have kill radius of of 30 meters and can cause structural collapse up to 365 meters away (according to research by @hrw ). They were used by Israel in Gaza. Amnesty International @amnestyusa is advocating in US Congress to block the use of these bombs in residential areas. war.gov/News/Transcripts/Tra…
15
286
387
24,452
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
It is raining oil in Tehran this morning after major airstrikes on oil facilities in the South and West of the Iranian capital. @CNN @cnni
1,021
10,345
38,236
11,918,419
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
A State Department official shares the below list of munitions being expedited to Israel on an emergency basis thus bypassing Congress. Total is $658m.
32
238
258
72,819
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
I spent most of my career before becoming a host as a conflict reporter. I’m seeing many of the familiar misunderstandings and confusion emerge that have some unique 2026 qualities. 1. Propaganda is rife. All governments engage in it. That’s why painstaking original reporting is so important. This is now worse with AI and the infotainment industrial complex. 2. Nothing beats having reporters on the ground to witness things first hand. Nothing. 3. Expertise matters. These issues are complicated and a hot take from your armchair pundit is probably useless. There are now more of them than ever. 4. People are being killed. Everyday. War is bloody and brutal. It’s not a video game or a movie. Anyone trying to portray it as such is lying. 5. There are few organizations now that have the resources to do the hard work of comprehensive boots in the region war reporting. Support them. @nytimes @CNN @AP @Reuters @WSJ @NPR @BBCNews @guardian @thetimes and others. 6. Governments see information as part of the battlefield. It’s why they try and control it and shape it.
27
207
601
94,605
A country that has been subject to a bombing campaign does not emerge as a liberal democracy. It emerges traumatized, fragmented, furious. The scenarios being discussed among analysts include the balkanization of Iran — the deliberate fracturing of a country of 90 million along ethnic and regional lines, a project that would make Iraq look stable. State collapse is another live possibility: not regime change but the dissolution of functioning governance across one of the most geopolitically critical territories on earth. A civil war fought across those ruins. These are not fringe fears; they are the logical extension of what is being proposed. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
35
152
350
24,171
RT @gonultol: A Turkish company is producing 12,000, 450-kg bombs for urgent delivery to Israel. The contract is led by Repkon USA, the US…
1,644
3
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
A man living in Tehran who participated in the January anti-government protests spoke to CBS News by phone under the condition of anonymity, citing fears for his safety, saying that he believes Iran’s future must be decided by Iranians themselves, not by outside forces. ā€œDemocracy has to come from the people,ā€ he said. ā€œIt’s an internal issue.ā€ The man says he strongly opposes Iran’s leadership, blaming the regime for ā€œruiningā€ the lives of many young Iranians, including himself. But as bombs fall and missiles strike across the country, he fears foreign intervention and war could leave Iran in chaos rather than bring freedom. The conflict continues to spread with new U.S. and Israeli strikes hitting Tehran and Israel also attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iranian drones hit neighboring Azerbaijan for the first time, as U.S. allies in the Gulf face relentless missile and drone attacks from Iran — and officials warn some are rapidly running low on the interceptors needed to shoot them down.
572
760
2,199
400,630
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
Video of a shepherd in #Lebanon evacuating with his herd of goats & sheep from Naqoura on Israel’s border to western Beqaa. They’ve already been walking for 2 days and expect 3 more to go. War doesn’t spare anyone …

178
5,181
16,271
449,322
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
EXCLUSIVE: The strike that destroyed a school in Minab, Iran was larger than has been previously reported. A nearby clinic was also hit. The evidence suggests a precision strike against an IRGC base that was adjacent to the school. npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-s1-573…
97
615
1,427
560,031
Ruth Sherlock retweeted
🚨BREAKING: Drones attacking Georgian territory and specifically the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline network which is 30% of Israel’s oil source My sources in the region confirmed that the ballistic missile fired toward Turkey yesterday was designed to cripple the oil terminal and today’s attack is designed to cripple the weak spot of the pipeline
217
2,598
6,768
1,558,901