The National Interest Foundation invites you to attend our lunch discussion regarding the one-year anniversary of the Caesar Act sanctions against the Syrian regime.

Speakers

Colonel Joel Rayburn, Former Special Envoy for Syria, current Special Advisor for Middle East affairs to U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs and before that as Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon at the National Security Council, retired U.S. Army officer who served in a variety of assignments in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States from 1992 to 2018.

Ayman Abdelnour, President of Syrian Christians for Peace, editor-in-chief of All4Syria (Syria’s leading independent news outlet), has testified before the European Parliament and been widely quoted in major publications including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Time.com, FOX, Reuters, the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Le Monde, Le Figaro, and BBC News.

Erich Ferrari, Esq., Principal of Ferrari & Associates, represents financial institutions, multi-national corporations, and individuals in matters involving U.S. economic sanctions administered by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), has written and lectured widely on all aspects of U.S. sanctions law.

Shahroo Yazdani, Esq., Trade professional specializing in international import and export regulations, specializes in all matters relating to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), specialized in European and International Trade Law while contributing to human rights work with Senator Lincoln Diaz Balart on Capitol Hill.

Moderator

Hamdi Rifai, Executive Director at the Council of United Syrians & Americans, government affairs specialist focused on foreign policy between the United States, Eurasia, and the Middle East, expert analyst on international affairs, national security, and legal issues who frequently appears on Fox News, Al-Hurra, Al-Jazeera, the BBC, and TRT.

About our Speakers: 

Colonel Joel Rayburn is the former Special Envoy for Syria and is currently Special Advisor for Middle East affairs to United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN). He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs and before that as Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon at the National Security Council from January 2017 to July 2018. Rayburn is a retired U.S. Army officer who served in a variety of assignments in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States from 1992 to 2018. He also taught history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and is the author of several books and articles on the Iraq War. He was commissioned into the Army after graduating from West Point in 1992 and holds a master’s degree in History from Texas A&M University and in National Security Studies from the National War College. He is originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Ayman Abdelnour is a noted Syrian reformist, the editor-in-chief of All4Syria (Syria’s leading independent news outlet), and the president of the non-profit Syrian Christians for Peace. Ayman is trained as an engineer and economist. He has testified in front of the European Parliament and received numerous awards. Mr. Abdelnour has provided consulting services on Middle East public policy to a variety of international organizations (such as UN and EU) and has been widely quoted in some of the most important publications in the international media, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Time.com, FOX, Reuters, the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Le Monde, Le Figaro, and BBC News. He has lectured widely at prestigious universities, including Columbia University’s Middle East Institute at the School of International and Public Affairs in New York, Tufts University Cabot Intercultural Center, Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), Yale University, and the University of California, Los Angeles International Institute Center for Middle East Development.

Erich Ferrari, Esq. is the Principal of Ferrari & Associates in Washington, D.C. Mr. Ferrari represents financial institutions, multi-national corporations, and individuals in matters involving U.S. economic sanctions administered by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). His work focuses on advising clients on how to navigate and comply with authorities administered by OFAC, seek license authorizations from OFAC for clients seeking to engage in otherwise prohibited transactions, and representing parties in pending OFAC enforcement matters. Mr. Ferrari is also known as one of the foremost experts on the OFAC delisting process and in bringing court challenges seeking judicial review of OFAC actions. Mr. Ferrari has written and lectured widely on all aspects of U.S. sanctions law. He writes extensively on such matters on his blog: www.sanctionlaw.com.

Shahroo Yazdani, Esq. is a trade professional specializing in international import and export regulations. Shahroo started her career at a boutique DC law firm where she specialized in sanctions law. She then moved to Amazon and most recently to Amazon’s subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she focused on import and export laws and international regulations. With a passion for trade law, Shahroo specializes in all matters relating to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) including but not limited to: advising on OFAC and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) compliance, building out corporate compliance programs, assisting with civil forfeitures, OFAC whistleblowing, and de-listing procedures. Shahroo is a Maryland native and attended the University of Maryland, College Park. She continued her education at American University’s Washington College of Law and Université Paris Nanterre where she specialized in European and International Trade Law while contributing to human rights work with Senator Lincoln Diaz Balart on Capitol Hill. After finishing law school, Shahroo worked on various human rights projects including at the World Bank as a consultant on the potential cultural rights implications of a Chinese mining project in Afghanistan.

About our Moderator: 

Hamdi Rifai is the Executive Director at the Council of United Syrians & Americans. Mr. Rifai is a government affairs specialist focused on foreign policy between the United States, Eurasia, and the Middle East. He has appeared frequently throughout the years as an expert analyst on international affairs, national security, and legal issues on Fox News, Al-Hurra, Al-Jazeera, the BBC, and TRT.

Disclaimer: 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 for those who fail to do so, i.e. inputting NA in the “organization” or “job title” section. NIF events are by email invitation only and are non-transferable.

Note: additional speakers may be announced later.