The Endowment for Middle East Truth

Invites You to a Phone Seminar:

Hear Directly from a Syrian Christian about the Plight of Syrians

Featuring:

Ahed al-Ahendi

Please direct any questions to dheffernan@emetonline.org 

The Syrian civil war is in its fourth year now, with 250,000 people killed.  President Assad still holds power in Damascus, in a rump state largely in western Syria. Russia, Iran and Hezbollah (from Lebanon) have all jumped in to support him, with the former bombing much of the country, and the latter providing thousands of ground troops for Assad. The Islamic State has taken huge areas to the east and north of the country, and is slaughtering all non-Sunni Muslims in its area.  The Syrian Kurds have grabbed part of the north, along with their Arab allies, which are on the move against the IS. Turkey has also intervened, and is busy bombing Kurdish areas. Millions of Syrians have become refugees; some fleeing to Europe, where they are destabilizing the European Union.

To discuss this continuing civil war, EMET will host a seminar with Ahed al-Hendi.  As a native of Syria, and a Syrian Christian activist, Ahed al-Hendi keeps in touch with other activists back home, and will discuss the dire situation in his homeland, especially for Christian and other minority Syrians. 

About Ahed al-Hendi: Ahed al-Hendi is a Syrian-born human rights activist who has been living in Washington, DC since 2009. He spent 40 days in prison in Syria for co-founding a pro-democracy group known as Syrian Youth for Justice. He was arrested at an Internet Cafe in Damascus in December 2006. Al-Hendi fled Syria to Jordan in April 2007. With the help of the American Embassy in Beirut, Al- Hendi was granted refugee status in the United States of America. He flew from Lebanon to live in the U.S in January of 2009. When Syrian protests began in 2011, Al-Hendi became one of the most outspoken Syrian Christian activists in the US, speaking in support of the opposition and the revolution. He has briefed many Members of Congress, and he has met with President George W. Bush, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other high-level officials. He is in daily communication with a wide network of activists and researchers in Syria. His research on the Middle East has been published in

Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Wall Street Journal, Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Reuters, CNN, al- Hayat, and al-Mustaqbal. He was interviewed by many International and Arabic TV network such as CNN, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, al-Hura, France 24, and Russia Today. He has lectured at the US Institute for Peace, New American Foundation, Hudson Institute.