The National Interest Foundation invites you to attend a panel discussion event regarding the latest developments in Syria after the ousting of Assad and what to expect next.

Speakers:
Dr. Tarek Abou Ghazala, American Coalition for Syria
Radwan Ziadeh, Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies
Raghid Okla, Syrian-American Activist
Bassam Barabandi, People Demand Change

Moderator:
Khaled Saffuri, National Interest Foundation

Disclaimer: NIF events are by email invitation only and are non-transferable. You will receive a confirmation email if you have been successfully added to our event attendee list upon registration. Those who do not receive a confirmation email will not be admitted. Also, please note that when registering for any of our events, all required fields must be properly filled out. We reserve the right to deny entry to those who fail to do so.

*A light dinner will be served at the event.

Parking: Free parking will be available around the building. We will inform building management about the event and they will not tow. If you wish to take the metro, it is a 7-minute walk from both the Tysons and Greensboro stations.

About our Speakers:

Dr. Tarek Abou Ghazala is an Interventional Cardiologist practicing in Northern Virginia. He established the Virginia Cardiovascular Group and served as the President of the Medical Society of Northern Virginia and the Chairman of Medicine and Director of Cardiovascular Services then elected Chief of Staff at Stonesprings Hospital in Aldie Virginia. He was then elected Director at the Medical Society of Virginia in 2019. Dr. Abou Ghazala is an active political advocate of the Syrian uprising, currently serving as the President of Kayla’s List PAC, a Political Action Committee aiming to promote congressional candidates that support freedom, social & economic justice, and dignity for people across the globe. Previously, Dr. Abou Ghazala co-founded the American Coalition for Syria, encompassing 10 organisations advocating for freedom and democracy for the Syrian people. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Syrian American Medical Society, Washington DC Chapter, and is a signatory to the 10 Principles for Freedom and Democracy for Syria, put forth by active Syrian Americans. He appeared on many media outlets in person and by writing. Dr. Abou Ghazala graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Damascus University in 1991. He later continued his training in the United States completing his residency in Internal Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio and his fellowship in Cardiordivascular Diseases at the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics in Columbia, Missouri.

Radwan Ziadeh is a Senior Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, where he deals chiefly with issues pertaining to Syria. He has been documenting the ongoing human rights violations since the onset of the Syrian crisis and has testified before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the US Congress. He served as a visiting fellow and scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Institute for Middle East Studies of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, Chatham House, the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard University, and the United States Institute of Peace. He was also a Prins Global Fellow at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University and a Reagan–Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. Dr. Ziadeh is the author of more than 20 books in English and Arabic including Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations and Democracy in the Modern Middle East (2010), and Syria’s Role in a Changing Middle East: The Syrian-Israeli Peace Talks (2016). He holds a DDS in Dentistry from Damascus University, a Diploma in International Human Rights Law from American University, an MA in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University, and a Diploma in Peace Negotiations and Conflict Studies from the University of Cyprus. Ziadeh is also the founder and director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria (www.dchrs.org); and co-founder and executive director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C. (www.scpss.org).

Raghid Okla is a Syrian-American activist and opinion’s columnist for various media outlets.

Bassam Barabandi is Co-Founder of People Demand Change and was a Non-Resident Fellow at the Newlines Institute. Born in Damascus City with familial ties to Deir Azzour Province, Syria, Bassam Barabandi worked in the diplomatic civil service of the Syrian Government for 14 years before leaving the Syrian Embassy in Washington DC in the summer of 2013 and co-founding People Demand Change Inc. Previously as a diplomat, Mr. Barabandi had numerous postings, including being the first secretary at the Embassy of Syria in Washington DC, the head of political affairs at the Syrian Embassy in Beijing, China, and a post at the Syrian Government’s UN mission in New York City. Through his time as a diplomat, Mr. Barabandi also worked with the World Bank, the US Treasury Department and as a liaison to the US Congress. Since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, Mr. Barabandi was instrumental in providing unhindered access to consular services for all Syrians regardless of political or ideological affiliation, including access to many Syrians who had no other avenue through which to acquire passport extensions and other necessary legal documents. Mr. Barabandi has a BA in political science and public administration from the American University of Beirut and speaks fluent Arabic and English. Since co-founding PDC, Mr. Barabandi has written extensively on the Syrian conflict and has been published in Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, and was qouted by all main newspaper and reserch on Syria & has conducted guest interviews to provide his analysis for BBC, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Sky News, France24 and other media outlets.

About our Moderator:

Khaled Saffuri is the Founder and President of the National Interest Foundation (NIF), a nonpartisan think tank and nonprofit organization established in April of 2018 which is focused on bettering relationships between the United States and countries across the globe through the promotion of smarter foreign policy. Mr. Saffuri has previously served as a Principal at Meridian Strategies providing international business and government clients with strategic and public affairs consulting services, and also founded and ran one of the United States’ prominent and most active organizations to represent the Middle East and Muslim-Americans. He has worked for many years with Members of Congress and has testified in front of Congressional Committees, advising them on international issues and leading Congressional delegations to the Middle East. Due to his extensive background and expertise, Mr. Saffuri is a regular contributor to a number of important media outlets in the United States and internationally including CNN, CBS, and BBC, and contributes articles and written publications to outlets such as The Washington Post and The American Conservative.

Note: additional speakers may be announced later