Dr. Waiel Awwad
Dr. Waiel S.H. Awwad is a Senior Foreign Journalist based in South Asia with a distinguished career since 1979.
He has extensively traveled across South and Southeast Asia, interviewing numerous Asian leaders and providing in-depth coverage of the region.
A graduate of Delhi University with an MBBS, he pursued postgraduate studies in journalism and completed various programs in international law, human rights, diplomatic correspondence, and video journalism in Delhi, London, and Dubai.
As an investigative correspondent, Dr. Awwad has covered conflicts in Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Afghanistan, West Asia, and the Gulf region, often facing life-threatening situations. He survived dangerous assignments in Jaffna, Kargil, and Afghanistan, and in 2003, was ambushed and captured in Iraq while embedded with U.S. troops, ultimately escaping execution after ten harrowing days.
He served as the South Asia Bureau Chief for Alarabiya TV in Dubai Media City and MBC in London, and was the host of "Dateline South Asia," the first Arabic program of its kind in partnership with Asian News International (ANI). Additionally, he has been a radio correspondent and analyst for stations in Kuwait, Oman, and Damascus.
Dr. Awwad’s work has been widely published in major newspapers and magazines in English and Arabic, and he has conducted interviews with key global and regional leaders.
Dr. Awwad has twice served as President of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia (FCC), where he is now President Emeritus. He was a board governor at the British School for a decade and is a founding member of the International Association of Press Clubs (IAPC), headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. Currently, he is the Distinguished Advisor (West Asia) at the Tillotoma Foundation and serves as a Distinguished Adviser for the Global Counter Terrorism Council (GCTC).
He is also a Fellow at the International Strategic Institute in Rome and the Secretary General of the Indo-Arab Intellectual Forum (TAIF). Dr. Awwad has received numerous international awards and is fluent in Arabic, English, Hindi, and Persian.
