Rageh Omaar: ITV International Affairs Analyst, Former Editor and Career

Rageh Omaar is one of the very few British broadcasters whose name is attached to the defining foreign stories of two decades: the only western television journalist inside Taliban-held Kabul as it fell in 2001, the BBC’s face from Baghdad as the Iraq invasion began in 2003, and then, for eleven years, ITV News’ international affairs editor. He is now ITV’s international affairs analyst, still presenting On Assignment and News at Ten, but no longer holding the editor’s chair — a change most competitor pages have not caught up with.

That long view is what most competitor pages miss. They list him as a presenter, or freeze him in a single role, when his career is really a passage through the three great institutions of modern British foreign reporting — the BBC, Al Jazeera English and ITV — and through the books and documentaries in which he tried to explain, at length, the Islamic world he had been reporting from at speed.

Quick Bio

Somalia, Oxford and the BBC

Omaar was born in Hargeisa in 1967 and moved to the United Kingdom at the age of two. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Cheltenham College, then studied Modern History at New College, Oxford. His early journalism was not in television: he began as a trainee for The Voice newspaper, freelanced as a foreign correspondent in Ethiopia, principally for the BBC World Service, and joined the BBC in London in 1992, becoming its Africa correspondent.

The assignments that made his name came in quick succession. In 2001 he was the only western television journalist inside Taliban-held Kabul as the city fell, work that earned the BBC a BAFTA. In March 2003 he led the BBC’s coverage from Baghdad as the invasion of Iraq began, reporting live from a hotel rooftop as missiles flew overhead — dispatches that made him the face of the war for British audiences, and that he later turned into his book Revolution Day, about the impact of the Saddam Hussein regime, sanctions and war on Iraqi civilians. His reporting from Darfur for the BBC was recognised with a Peabody Award.

Those three assignments explain the rest of his career. Omaar was not a studio analyst who learned foreign affairs from briefing papers; he was a correspondent who had been in the places, at the moments, when the story broke, and who kept returning to the same regions long after the cameras had moved on.

Al Jazeera, ITV and On Assignment

In September 2006 Omaar moved to Al Jazeera English, where he presented the nightly weekday documentary series Witness until January 2010, then The Rageh Omaar Report, a monthly investigative documentary on international current affairs. The move placed a British foreign correspondent inside a new international broadcaster at its launch, reporting the world from a perspective that was not London’s or Washington’s.

In January 2013 he returned to mainstream British broadcasting as a special correspondent and presenter for ITV News, and a year later he was promoted to international affairs editor, a post he held for eleven years. From October 2015 he was also a deputy newscaster of ITV News at Ten, and from September 2017 he occasionally presented the ITV Lunchtime News and the ITV Evening News. Alongside the bulletins, he presented On Assignment, ITV’s monthly current affairs programme in which correspondents report from around the world.

In 2025 that long editorship ended in an orderly handover, not a departure. ITV appointed Emma Murphy as international editor to lead its foreign coverage, taking over from Omaar, who became international affairs analyst. ITV said he would continue to provide in-depth analysis on foreign news, front On Assignment and present on News at Ten. The distinction matters, and it is the single most common error in competing pages, which still describe him in the present tense as international affairs editor. He was that editor for eleven years. He is now the analyst who succeeds him in the studio, with the same authority and a different title.

Books, documentaries and the long story

Beyond breaking news, Omaar has consistently turned to the long story of the Islamic world and its relationship with Europe. His two books, both published by Penguin, are Revolution Day, on the 2003 Iraq invasion, and Only Half of Me, a study of British Muslim identity drawn partly from his own Somali-British background. His documentary series for BBC Two include The Life of Muhammad and The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors — programmes that treated Islamic history not as a backdrop to a war, but as a subject in its own right.

That body of work is what differentiates him from a general-purpose news anchor. When he presents On Assignment or analyses a crisis on News at Ten, the analysis carries the weight of reporting from Kabul, Baghdad and Darfur, and of books and documentaries that took years rather than hours.

One episode from his ITV years is worth recording plainly. In April 2024, presenting News at Ten, Omaar became unwell on air and struggled to read the autocue towards the end of the bulletin. He finished the programme, and ITV said the following morning that he was receiving medical care and thanked viewers for their well wishes. No further details about his condition were released, and this article does not speculate about them.

What competitors get wrong or leave out

Most competing pages about Omaar share three weaknesses. First, they describe him as ITV’s current international affairs editor, when Emma Murphy took over that role in 2025 and Omaar became international affairs analyst, continuing On Assignment and News at Ten presenting.

Second, they treat his BBC years as a single Iraq story, when the record runs from Africa correspondent through Kabul in 2001, Baghdad in 2003 and Darfur — a Peabody and a BAFTA, not one famous rooftop.

Third, they omit the books and documentaries, or list them without explaining their argument: that the Islamic world, and British Muslim identity within it, deserve the long treatment, not only the breaking-news treatment. Omaar’s career is not a series of postings; it is a correspondent who kept choosing the hardest foreign beat available, and who then wrote and filmed the longer story behind it.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Rageh Omaar? A Somali-born British journalist, author and presenter, now ITV News’ international affairs analyst.

Was he ITV’s international affairs editor? Yes, for eleven years, from 2014. In 2025 Emma Murphy took over as international editor and Omaar became international affairs analyst, continuing On Assignment and News at Ten.

What did he do at the BBC? He was a world affairs correspondent and Africa correspondent, reporting from Taliban-held Kabul as it fell in 2001, from Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq invasion, and from Darfur, winning a BAFTA and a Peabody for that coverage.

What did he do at Al Jazeera English? From September 2006 he presented Witness, then The Rageh Omaar Report, a monthly investigative documentary series.

What books has he written? Revolution Day, on the Iraq invasion, and Only Half of Me, on being a Muslim in Britain.

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Sources and Further Reading

• Wikipedia: Rageh Omaar — born 19 July 1967, Hargeisa; BBC world affairs correspondent; Al Jazeera English 2006; ITV special correspondent 2013, international affairs editor a year later, deputy newscaster of ITV News at Ten from October 2015
• ITV News appointment report: Emma Murphy appointed international editor, taking over from Omaar after 11 years; Omaar becomes international affairs analyst, continuing in-depth analysis, On Assignment and News at Ten presenting
• Speakers Associates biography: only western television journalist inside Taliban-held Kabul as it fell in 2001, BBC Baghdad 2003, Darfur Peabody, The Life of Muhammad and The Ottomans documentaries, Revolution Day and Only Half of Me books
• ITV News statement, April 2024: Omaar became unwell while presenting News at Ten and received medical care; no further condition details released

Note: career details are from the sources listed. Salary, net worth, height and partner/family details beyond what the cited sources confirm are intentionally not claimed, and no unsourced personal figure is published.