The governor of Damascus faced major backlash in the Arab world for his comments about making peace with Israel. But what do Israelis and Syrians want?

The governor of Damascus faces backlash after he tells NPR that he wants the U.S. to mediate cordial relations with Israel.

In Syria's capital, Damascus, there are hole-in-the-wall beauty parlors on nearly every street, places for women to chat while getting blowouts and manicures. And when NPR's Diaa Hadid visited a ...

So why did his feared military disintegrate when rebel fighters swept across Syria to take the capital? Leila Fadel reports from Syria, and we should warn you - this is a story about Syria's civil ...

and Syrian people were dancing in the streets. DETROW: Morning Edition host Leila Fadel is in Damascus, and she joins us on the line now. Hey, Leila. LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Hi. DETROW: What's ...

Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based ... Her coverage also included stories of human smugglers in Egypt and the Syrian families desperate and willing to pay to risk their lives ...

FADEL: When Syria's peaceful uprising began in 2011, it was met with violence from the regime and turned into a civil war that pitted the country's sects against each other, the Sunni Arab ...

FADEL: Syria has never recognized Israel as a state ... the Israeli foreign ministry said that it rejected any overture from HTS. And, Leila, like you said, it was remarkable - for two reasons.