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.

Cosmetics firm accused of plundering Dead Sea

Ruth Pollard JERUSALEM: The Israeli cosmetics company Ahava is under increasing pressure over its role in the exploitation of the Dead Sea, with renewed allegations that it is committing war crimes by mining...

Gaza accidental death finding a cover-up: family

Ruth Pollard, Haifa The family of peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israel Defence Forces bulldozer, described a judge's ruling absolving the military of responsibility in her killing as...

Israeli army cleared of activist's death

Ruth Pollard The Israeli Defence Force has been absolved of responsibility in the death of 23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an armed bulldozer in Gaza in 2003.

Family of dead activist awaits Israeli court's verdict

Ruth Pollard JERUSALEM: A family's nine-year fight for justice culminates today when a court delivers its verdict in the civil lawsuit against the state of Israel over the killing of the American peace activist,...

Verdict near on activist's Gaza bulldozer death

Ruth Pollard, Jerusalem A family's nine-year fight for justice culminates today when a court delivers its verdict in the civil lawsuit against the state of Israel over the killing of US peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was...

Israeli soldiers expose plight of Palestinian children

Ruth Pollard Ruth Pollard reports from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

How the Israeli army treats Palestinian children

Ruth Pollard Israeli soldiers tell how they routinely harass Palestinian families and sometimes shoot children involved in protests. Their testimony was given to campaigning group Breaking the Silence.

Syria strife splinters family life in Golan

Ruth Pollard, Majdal Shams, Golan Heights The old apple farmer sits upright on his lounge, photographs of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad proudly displayed on the wall behind him.

Syria's prisoners of war in a land of fear

Ruth Pollard, Hayyan He says he is 24 but he doesn't look a day over 18 - a terrified young man with two swollen black eyes, cuts to his forehead and ears and the quivering mouth of one who is close to tears.

Without water, electricity or fuel, they fight for end to regime

Ruth Pollard In Tertyah, it is not even safe to bury the dead, reports Ruth Pollard in Jabal Akrad, northern Syria.

Death toll mounts as rebels hit air base

Ruth Pollard in northern Syria REBELS in Syria have bombarded an air base that was apparently being used by helicopter gunships and jets to attack the northern city of Aleppo, as the toll of dead and injured in the bloody conflict...

Syrian toll rises as the battles rage

Ruth Pollard, Northern Syria The toll of dead and injured continues to mount as the Syrian army kept up its relentless assault on villages in the north, pounding them with rocket-fire as the battle for the country's second city...

Syrian rebels dispute loss to army as envoy defects

Ruth Pollard Syria's opposition and observers dispute the government's claims it has regained control of parts of Aleppo after another day of shelling and clashes in its largest city.

Syria's top diplomat in London defects over 'violent and oppressive' regime

Ruth Pollard in Antakya, Turkey Syria's most senior diplomat in Britain has announced his defection, saying he can no longer represent a regime that has “committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own...

Deaths rise as Assad's army pounds Aleppo

Ruth Pollard ANTAKYA, Turkey: Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad bombarded the northern city of Aleppo overnight, with constant helicopter machinegun fire and heavy shelling continuing across many neighbourhoods...

'Syria is stronger': troops fight to regain ground in Aleppo

Ruth Pollard, Antakya With thousands of refugees streaming across Syria's borders into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, Syrian government forces continued to pound the country's commercial capital, Aleppo, in a bid to...

Bloody battle for Syria's commercial city

Ruth Pollard THE fierce battle for control of Syria's second city, Aleppo, is now fought street by street, as the Syrian Army rushes more troops and tanks to the area and fighter jets fly over the city, firing on...