Leila Molana-Allen

Leila Molana-Allen is a British roving foreign war correspondent, journalist, and video and photojournalist, based in Beirut and Baghdad. She is British–Iranian, and covers topics on social instability and recovery in conflict zones, displacement, and women's rights across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa. In 2024, she was nominated for twoEmmy Awards for her coverage on PBS's On the Brink and Sudan's Civil War.

Early Life and education Leila Molana-Allen was born in London, England, to a British father and Iranian mother.

Molana-Allen received a BA degree in ancient and modern history from the University of Oxford, and an MS degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 2011. She has also worked as a freelance journalist reporting for Al Jazeera and The Telegraph, among others. Molana-Allen has covered topics including Sudan's civil war, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the October 7 attacks, and women's rights.

In 2024, Molana-Allen crossed into Syria on the front lines reporting from cities and villages to interview people caught in the middle of the violence in the days following the collapse of the Assad regime as well as reporting on Sudan's civil war and humanitarian crisis. That same year she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for On the Brink (Hezbollah–Israel conflict) for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage and for PBS's Sudan's Civil War for Outstanding Continuing News Coverage - Long Form.

In 2025, Molana-Allen won a Shifa Gardi Award for Conflict Journalist of the Year. Rudaw grants the award each year to a prominent female war correspondent.

Awards Year Nominated work Category Award Result