hamidi replaced dardari as al-hayat correspondent when the latter left to work for the united nations development programme (undp). his 1996 coverage of the arab league summit in cairo and the us presidential election, was highly acclaimed and helped bring him to a prominent place between syrian journalists. hamidi also delved into the kurdish issue, interviewing abdullah öcalan, leader of the kurdistan workers' party (pkk). syrian authorities responded by suspending his journalism credentials but he continued to meet and interview kurdish politicians, most of whom, like jalal talbani and massoud barzani, rose to power in iraq after downfall of saddam hussein in 2003. hamidi also conducted interviews with high-profile palestinian leaders including fathi shaqaqi, head of the islamic jihad movement in palestine who was assassinated in malta days after his interview with al-hayat, his successor ramadan shalah, and khaled mashal, head of the political bureau of hamas. as an independent correspondent his credentials have been suspended by the syrian government several times.