My friend Gareth Smyth, who has died aged 64 of a heart attack, was a sensitive and cultured Middle East journalist, renowned for his integrity and decency. Gareth’s career spanned various publications, including the Financial Times, the Guardian and BBC radio. He covered Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Syria, offering deep and nuanced insights into the region’s complexities.
After working as a supply teacher for Marsden Tutors (1981-86), Gareth became an elected councillor, and housing chair, for Camden council and then research assistant to Stan Newens MEP (1986-90) and Labour party press officer (1990-91) before transitioning to freelance journalism (1992-96). His coverage for the FT in 1992 of the Kurdish elections in northern Iraq, and in 1993 of his trekking in western Iran with peshmerga guerrillas of the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iran, led to his being appointed to the positions of opinion and features editor of the Daily Star (1996-97) and Lebanon correspondent for the FT, both in Beirut. In 2003, while covering the invasion and occupation of Iraq for the FT, he was appointed chief Iran correspondent, based in Tehran.
