The National Interest Foundation invites you to attend our lunch discussion regarding the latest developments in Idlib as the Syrian revolution nears its decade-long milestone.

About our Speakers: 

Hassan Hassan is a director of the Non-state Actors and Geopolitics program at the Center for Global Policy. His research focuses on militant movements, nonviolent extremism, and geopolitics in the Middle East. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, Foreign Policy and The Guardian. He is the author, with Michael Weiss, of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. His internationally acclaimed 2015 book was a New York Times bestseller, and was selected as one of the Times of London’s best books of 2015 and as one of the Wall Street Journal’s top 10 books on terrorism. The book was translated into more than a dozen foreign languages. He testified before Congress on extremism, and has frequently advised senior policymakers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He frequently conducts training courses for military personnel and diplomats specializing or operating in the Middle East, on subjects such as tribes and Salafi-jihadism.

A native of eastern Syria, Hassan received a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Nottingham. He is also a senior non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington DC. He was previously an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program in London and a research associate at the Delma Institute in the United Arab Emirates. From 2008 to 2014, he worked on the news and commentary sections at The National, an English-language daily newspaper in the UAE. Hassan has written extensively on Sunni and Shia movements, society, and politics in the Middle East for numerous publications, including the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Financial Times, the Daily Beast, The National.

Charles Lister is a senior fellow and Director of the Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute. His work focuses primarily on the conflict in Syria, including as a member of the MEI-convened Syria Study Group; and on issues of terrorism and insurgency across the Levant. Prior to this, Lister was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Qatar and a Senior Consultant to the multinationally-backed Syria Track II Dialogue Initiative, where he managed nearly three years of intensive face-to-face engagement with the leaderships of over 100 Syrian armed opposition groups.

Lister is a frequent source of briefings on the Syrian insurgency to political, military and intelligence leaderships in the United States and across Europe and the Middle East. He appears regularly on television media, including CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera, and his articles have been widely published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, BBC, CNN, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, among others. Lister has previously held positions at the Brookings Institution and as head of MENA at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center in London, UK. Lister’s critically-acclaimed book, The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency, was published in February 2016 by Oxford University Press. He also published The Islamic State: A Brief Introduction (Brookings Press, 2015) and he is now working on a third book on Syria, commissioned by Oxford University Press.

Jennifer Cafarella is the Research Director at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). She is responsible for setting the organization’s research priorities and overseeing their execution by ISW’s team of open source intelligence analysts. Ms. Cafarella is also responsible for leading ISW’s simulation exercises as well as its efforts to develop detailed recommendations on how to achieve U.S. objectives abroad. Ms. Cafarella has conducted such exercises for various U.S. military units deploying overseas. In 2015, she participated in a multi-week assessment mission in the Middle East focused on the conflicts in Iraq and Syria at the invitation of senior U.S. Army commanders. She regularly briefs military units preparing to deploy on a range of subjects including Syria, ISIS, and Russia.

Ms. Cafarella led ISW’s Syria team from 2014-2017 before becoming ISW’s Director of Intelligence Planning from 2018-2019. She is a graduate of ISW’s Hertog War Studies Program and was the Institute’s first Evans Hanson Fellow, which sponsors outstanding alumni of the War Studies Program and seeks to help build the next generation of national security leaders. Ms. Cafarella received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in Global Studies with a focus on the Middle East. Ms. Cafarella has written extensively on Syria, Iraq, Al Qaeda, and ISIS. Her essays have been published by Foreign Affairs, The Hill, and Fox News, among other outlets. She has appeared extensively in the media, including on C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, and others. Her analysis has been cited widely in print media including by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, NPR, Voice of America, the BBC, and USA Today.

About our Moderator: 

Hamdi Rifai is the Executive Director at the Council of United Syrians & Americans. He started his work in Government Relations as early as 1991 when he advocated for the easing of sanctions against Iraq. The Arab American Medical Association needed medicines to reach people suffering under Saddam Hussein. His work in government relations advocacy has continued since the early 90’s representing many Middle East interests and governments. His advocacy has both utilized his legal training and certification in legislative advocacy. Mr. Rifai has served as Deputy Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee. He chaired a congressional campaign for the always hotly contested 5th district of Bergen County, New Jersey. When Bret Schundler ran for Governor Mr. Rifai formed the Lawyer’s Committee that gave Schundler his primary victory. Mr. Rifai has engaged in extensive Rule of Law and institution building work. He has escorted journalists to meet with Kuwait’s parliament on one end of the spectrum to his focus today of working for a free Syria.

Since 2011, Mr. Rifai has directed the work of Arab Americans for Democracy in Syria and it’s successor the Council of United Syrians & Americans. He was instrumental in persuading the US to close the Syrian embassy of Washington, DC and then also to prosecute sanctions violators. He has worked to promote civil society and the Interim Syrian Government. Mr. Rifai has advised on institution building and governance. He has been instrumental in getting real news with real facts into the media stream. As a former trial lawyer he is a graduate of Rutgers University and holds a Juris Doctor from Loyola University. He is certified by the Notre Dame University Institute for Trial Advocacy as a trial attorney and by the Public Law Center in legislative advocacy/government relations. He has appeared frequently throughout the years as an expert analyst on foreign affairs, national security and legal issues on Fox News, Al-Hurra, Al-Jazeera, the BBC and TRT.