About The Heracles Group
The Heracles Group was started in March of 2019 and builds upon the vast experience of its members. In addition to the senior leadership listed below, we have several local engineers and support personnel who have been mapping out the breadth and depth of destruction in Free Syria for over two years under the Syrian Foundation for Sustainable Development organization (please click on our Facebook link for additional information). We have staffed offices in Ein Issa and Hajin, Syria who continue to document stability and reconstruction requirements throughout Free Syria and work with local leadership to ensure their priorities are incorporated into the final products.
Our first project was the renovation of a park in Raqqa (https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/rebuilding-syrias-raqqa-one-park-time) and we are working on assessments for 40 schools to be renovated along with a major hospital and water pumping station in Der Az Zour.
The Heracles Group is committed to maximizing your donations and ensuring that every available penny goes directly to help those in need. We pledge that over 95% of your donations will be used to help the people of Syria by acquiring and delivering critical supplies, equipment, and services they need. Less than 5% will be used for administrative purposes.
The Heracles Group Leadership Team
Luke Calhoun
A retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with 24 years of experience in the US Army including 5 years of combat experience in Iraq and Syria. As a military intelligence officer, Luke earned his master’s in Security Studies from Kansas State University and has published several articles on security challenges in the Middle East.
Ahed Al Hendi
Ahed al-Hendi is a Syrian-American human rights activist who has lived in Washington, DC since 2009. In December of 2006 he was detained in Damascus and spent 40 days in prison for co-founding a pro-democracy group known as Syrian Youth for Justice. He subsequently fled Syria to Jordan in April 2007. When Syrian protests began in 2011, Al Hendi became one of the most outspoken Syrian activists in the US, speaking in support of democracy. He has briefed many Members of Congress, and he has met with President George W. Bush, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , President Trump 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 has been interviewed by many International and Arabic TV networks such as CNN, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, al-Hura, France 24, and Russia Today. He has also lectured at the US Institute for Peace, New American Foundation, Hudson Institute, and the Milton Wolf Seminar in Austria.
Hoger Dizayee
A Mechanical Engineer who graduated from the University of Baghdad and is a licensed Residential and Commercial builder in the State of Virginia since 2005. Over the last 20 years he designed, managed, and developed residential projects in Erbil, Virginia, and across the globe. During the humanitarian crisis of 1992 in Kurdistan, he worked as a dedicated refugee assistant where he was instrumental in gaining approval of grants from donors including USAID, OFDA, UN Refugee Agencies, Save the Children’s Fund and EU Agencies to provide relief to refugees during and after Operation Provide Comfort.
