Asset Publisher
Ulf Laessing
Director of the Syria/Iraq Country Projekt (in preparation)
Since September 2026, Ulf Laessing has been serving as Head of the Syria and Iraq Project based in Beirut, following nearly five years as Director of the Foundation’s Sahel Programme in Mali. Before joining the Foundation, Laessing spent 13 years with Reuters as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief across the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. His reporting focused on a wide range of issues, including the Arab Spring, armed conflicts and military interventions, political transitions, terrorism and jihadist movements, migration, economic developments, and climate change. Laessing is also the author of a book on the Libyan conflict. He studied History, Islamic Studies, and Economics at universities in Hamburg, Leipzig, and Kuwait.