From Libya to Bahrain to Syria: Anthony Shadid on Conflict, Protest, and Humanity

Anthony Shadid has died on assignment for The New York Times in eastern Syria.

Shadid was one of the international correspondents whom we most admired. In November, we posted a report from his previous undercover travels in Syria, "The Spectre of Civil War in Homs". In September, he had analysed, "Ankara Offers Itself as the Answer in the Middle East". And in October, he had interviewed people in Sitra in Bahrain --- including an EA correspondent to offer their thoughts, "We Are Still Here. We Are Demanding. We Exist."

This was Shadid's last despatch, "Libya Struggles to Curb Militias as Chaos Grows", published by The Times on 8 February:

As the militiamen saw it, they had the best of intentions. They assaulted another militia at a seaside base here this week to rescue a woman who had been abducted. When the guns fell silent, briefly, the scene that unfolded felt as chaotic as Libya’s revolution these days — a government whose authority extends no further than its offices, militias whose swagger comes from guns far too plentiful and residents whose patience fades with every volley of gunfire that cracks at night.

The woman was soon freed. The base was theirs. And the plunder began.

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