Ruth Pollard
Ruth Pollard is the Middle East Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Her job takes her throughout the Middle East and North Africa, reporting on the Arab revolutions from Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia and on the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
Uncertain future awaits a people set free
Ruth Pollard It is a country awash with weapons and beset by tribal rivalries, stunted by four decades of repression by a dictator who crushed any semblance of a civil society.
A people frozen in time emerge from Arab spring to reclaim life
Ruth Pollard IT IS as if someone turned out the lights on February 17. The grass has grown long under outdoor cafe chairs, overturned and abandoned to the weather.
Syria sends warships to attack its own people
Ruth Pollard, Middle East Correspondent Syrian warships shell two densely populated areas in the coastal city of Latakia, killing at least 21 people, according to activists.
Caged dictator faces the people
Ruth Pollard Cairo FOR many Egyptians, the image of the man who brutally ruled their country for three decades being held in a steel cage and on trial for ordering the mass murder of protesters is a giant leap towards...
Gloom over mid-east talks greets Kerry
Ruth Pollard Jerusalem: The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, were due to arrive in Jerusalem on Thursday in a further attempt to renew talks between Israel and...
Syrian war spilling over borders
Ruth Pollard Tensions are rising along Syria's borders as government forces battle to regain control of a strategic border town from rebel fighters.
Israel, Syrian army exchange gunfire
Ruth Pollard Tensions have risen along Syria’s now-volatile southern border with Israel after an exchange of artillery fire in the Golan Heights.
US to Assad: talk peace in Syria or we help rebels
Ruth Pollard The United States warned it will offer further support to Syria's embattled opposition if President Bashar al-Assad failed to get behind a US and Russia-driven peace initiative in Geneva next month.
High stakes, hidden foes in Israel's intervention
Ruth Pollard It is just under seven years since the skies over Lebanon roared with the sound of Israeli fighter jets and missiles rained down on both sides in a furious 34-day war.
Damascus attack sparks fear of escalation
Ruth Pollard Israeli jets appear to have attacked a military centre on the outskirts of Damascus. If confirmed, it would be its second strike inside Syria in the past three days.
Israel attacks military sites in Syria
Ruth Pollard Israeli jets have attacked a military centre on the outskirts of Damascus, the second strike inside Syria in the past three days.
Tragedy of young lives lost remembered in Gallipoli
Ruth Pollard As thousands gathered along the tiny stretch of coast where so many Australians died on the unforgiving battlefields of Gallipoli, a clear dawn sky emerged out of the cold, moonlit night and a hush...
Sacred but troubled Easter feast
Ruth Pollard The wings of an angel curl around his shoulders and the image of a large cross travels down his spine, accompanied by 16 lines of prayer in the ancient script of Aramaic.
Obama arrives in Israel, this time as president
Ruth Pollard Barack Obama landed in Israel on Wednesday for the first time as US President, on a mission to ease past tensions with his hosts but facing scepticism about his plans to thwart Iran's nuclear threat.
Obama urges Israel to make peace with Palestine
Ruth Pollard Appealing to Israel's younger generation, US President Barack Obama urged them to look at the world through Palestinian eyes and push their political leaders to take a risk and make peace with their...
Israel apologises to Turkey
Ruth Pollard Israel has apologised to Turkey for the deaths of nine of its citizens during a 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Turkish aid flotilla that was headed for Gaza.
Obama visits the Church of the Nativity
Ruth Pollard As a fierce sandstorm blew into Bethlehem from the Negev Desert in the south, President Barack Obama made his final stop on his three-day visit to Israel and Palestine before he flies to neighbouring...
Israeli PM's call soothes relationship with Turkey
Ruth Pollard Israel has apologised to Turkey for the deaths of nine of its citizens during a 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Turkish aid flotilla that was headed for Gaza.
Obama came, saw and united, which is bad news for Assad
Ruth Pollard He came to woo the Israeli public and woo them he did, with endless symbolic gestures and a speech that won over many on both the right and left of the political spectrum.
Israeli PM thwarted by anti-Orthodox newcomers
Ruth Pollard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frustrated by an unexpectedly strong alliance between Israel's two political newcomers, has been forced to seek an extension of time to build a coalition with which...
