Actions Panel
Talk and Panel Discussion: President Ahmad Jarba, Syrian Opposition Coalition
Date and time
Location
ICC 7th Floor Executive Conference Room
37th and O Streets NW Washington, DC 20007Description
Georgetown University's
Master of Science in Foreign Service Program
invites you the following event:
Talk and Panel Discussion with
President Ahmad Jarba
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Monday, May 12th, 2014
6:00 PM
ICC 7th Floor Executive Conference Room
Ahmad Jarba will be accompanied by Hadi al-Bahra, Cheif Negotiator and Secretary General of the Political Committee, Dr. Najib Ghadbian, Special Representative to the US for the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolution and Opposition Froces, and General Abdulelah al-Bashir, Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army. Bios follow below. RSVPs are required.
RSVP BY CLICKING HERE: http://syriatalk.eventbrite.com
President Ahmad Jarba
President of the Syrian Coalition
Mr. Jarba was elected as President of the Syrian Coalition on August 6th, 2013 winning 55 votes.
He was born in 1969 in the northern Syrian city of Qamishli and was schooled there. Jarba attended Beirut University, graduating with a law degree. Because of his anti government positions, Jarba was arrested in March 2011, the first month of the revolution by Syrian Intelligence or the “Mukhabaraat” where he was questioned and detained. He was released in August 2011 where he made his way to Beirut. This would be the second time Jarba is detained by the Mukhabaraat. He was held for the first time from 1996 - 1998.
Jarba has been active for the revolution from the very beginning at many levels: relief, medical and military support, as well as diplomatic and political. He served as the Secretariat of the SNC and was a founding member of the Syrian Coalition.
Gen. Abdulelah al-Bashir
Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council of Free Syrian Army
Gen. Albashir was born to a working family. He enrolled in the military academy in 1979. He graduated as a first lieutenant infantry in 1981. Gen. Albashir served in several places in the Syrian army then in the military academy and then the General Commands Academy. Gen. Albashir attended several trainings, including: Battalion Leader in 1991, The Command of the War between 1997 and 1999, and Higher Command of the War in 2010.
Gen. Albashir disagreed with the regime's brutal response to the revolution and killing of civilians at the peaceful nonviolent demonstrations. Gen. Albashir started communicating with the revolutionary council in Damascus and the city of Daraya a few months after the beginning of the revolution, whereupon Gen. Albashir started working with them discreetly. On July 7, 2012 Gen. Albashir defected. Gen. Albashir moved his family to Jordan then started his revolutionary work with the rest of his officers and civilian revolutionary colleagues. On December 15, 2012 Gen. Albashir became the head of the revolutionary military council of Quneitra. Since then he has been working with officers and revolutionaries in the province fighting the murderous regime. Gen. Albashir’s son, Talal, was killed during clashes with the Syrian Army in the Quneitra countryside on 26th of November 2013. On February 16, 2014 Gen. Albashir was chosen as the Chief of Staff for the Syrian Military Council, taking over from Gen. Salim Idriss.
Hadi al-Bahra
Chief Negotiator and Secretary General of Political Committee
Mr. al-Bahra is the Syrian opposition's Chief Negotiator and Secretary General of the Political Committee of the National Coalition of Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces' (Etilaf). He is also an adviser to Syrian Coalition President Ahmad al-Jarba. Bahra received his bachelor's degree from Wichita State University in Kansas. He has been an active contributor to the opposition's media activity in addition to relief and political efforts in Syria.
Dr. Najib Ghadbian
Special Representative to the United Nations and United States
Dr. Najib Ghadbian is the Special Representative to the United Nations and United States for the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. Dr. Ghadbian is a Syrian pro-democracy activist and academic. He is Associate Professor of Political Science and Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas. He is the author of Democratization and the Islamists Challenge in the Arab World, (English 1997 & Arabic 2002). His second Arabic book, The Second Assad Regime: Bashar of Lost Opportunities was published in 2006.
Dr. Ghadbian has contributed political commentaries to several US, European, and Middle East media outlets. Ghadbian’s research interests include democratization and leadership in the Arab world, Syrian politics, and US-Mideast relations. He is a signatory to the Damascus Declaration (2005), and was a founding member of the Syrian National Council (SNC).
RSVP BY CLICKING HERE: http://syriatalk.eventbrite.com