Bethan McKernan

Bethan McKernan reports on the wider Middle East for The Independent and is based in Beirut, Lebanon.

She reports mainly on developments in Iraq and the Syrian civil war, with a particular interest in refugee issues and the Kurdish fighters of northern Syria.

She has also covered stories in East Africa, as well as Zimbabwe, the Balkans and Cuba.

Bethan holds degrees from Columbia Journalism School, where she was a scholarship Fellow at the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, and Oxford University.

Before joining The Independent she worked for the Associated Press in London and as a trainee in New York.

She has been shortlisted for the Amnesty International Media Awards.