Ammar Abd Rabbo was born in Damascus, Syria in 1966.










He lived in Tripoli, Libya and in Beirut, Lebanon, before coming to France at the age of 12 to flee the Lebanon's Civil War. Since then, he's been living in France.

At the age of 15, he wins a school writing competition about the French Resistance against the Nazis and is received with other winners at the “Hotel de Ville” by Paris'mayor Jacques Chirac.




After his school, He studied Political Sciences at Paris' “Institut d'Etudes Politiques” known as Sciences-Po .

He served his army at the French Press Service then called “SIRPA”.

In 1992, he works for Sipa Press agency in Paris and covers many stories mainly in the Arab world.






Among his work, coverage of events such as the pilgrimage to Mecca, visits of the Pope to Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, as well as portraits of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Saudi Billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Syrian president Bashar El Assad...


In 1998, he achieved an exclusive story (photo and interview) with the eldest son of Jordan's king Hussein, Abdallah and his wife Rania, only few weeks before they became king and queen of Jordan. This photo story was published all over the world, as well as on many magazines covers.









Later, in 2003 he covered the war on Iraq, and reported the daily life in Baghdad under the U.S. and allies shelling. Again, his pictures were published in the world's leading magazines, from “Paris-Match” to “Time”, as well as “Le Monde”, “Der Spiegel”, “Bild” or “Panorama”...



In the meantime, Ammar created a new photo agency, “Balkis Press” and left Sipa Press to concentrate more on this new agency. He signed in 2002 an agreement with Abaca Press photo agency who syndicates since then the production of “Balkis Press”.

Ammar is married since June 1993, and is a father of a girl born in 1997 and a boy born in 2001.