He has been covering Middle Eastern and international politics since 2011. Basem holds a master’s degree in political science—with a specialization in international relations— from the American University in Cairo (AUC). His MA thesis, currently a published text, tackled the use of strategic bombing against non-state actors in contemporary conflicts in the Middle East. He was a teaching and a research assistant at the AUC Department of Political Science. Basem was also an associate editor for Arab Media & Society, a journal published by the same university.