UNLOCKED - BONUS EPISODE 15 - Calluses on the Soul: Bernd Debusmann reflects on war reporting in Lebanon and Syria

2022-04-20

Bernd Debusmann was a young Reuters bureau chief when Lebanon imploded into civil war and anarchy in the 1970s, during which Syria and Hafez al-Assad became intimately involved the conflict. This talented and daring journalist took to war-torn Beirut like a duck to water, risking his life to interview combatants on all sides and civilians caught in the cross-fire, eventually running afoul of the Assad regime for reporting on their intervention in Lebanon and atrocities committed in Syria.

Bernd Debusmann was a young Reuters bureau chief when Lebanon imploded into civil war and anarchy in the 1970s, during which Syria and Hafez al-Assad became intimately involved the conflict.

This talented and daring journalist took to war-torn Beirut like a duck to water, risking his life to interview combatants on all sides and civilians caught in the cross-fire, eventually running afoul of the Assad regime for reporting on their intervention in Lebanon and atrocities committed in Syria.

This prompted Syrian intelligence officers to threaten his life. Several Western journalists fled Lebanon after receiving similar death threats, but Bernd stubbornly refused to be intimidated. The Assad regime then resorted to, "censorship by bullet" and attempted to assassinate him in 1980.

Bernd survived and still walks around with a bullet in his back, to this day. And that wasn't even the first time he got shot in Lebanon.

You won't want to miss this incredible interview with a man who frequently put his life on the line to inform the public and now shares valuable insight on a bygone era. The Lebanese Civil War and Syria's role in the conflict are largely forgotten today, but their long-term consequences reverberate into the present day.

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