Hamidi's work focuses on strategic issues in the Middle East, with special insight into Syria's internal and regional politics.

Dardari, who later became Deputy Prime Minister of Syria in 2005, helped Hamidi find work as a secretary at his al-Hayat bureau in Damascus.

[citation needed] 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.

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.