Reuters – Damascus: Abdul-Halim Khaddam, the Syrian Vice President who resigned, paving the way for new blood among young politicians, was considered a possible successor to the late President Hafez al-Assad in the 1980s. However, Khaddam, one of the oldest political leaders in Syria, continued to support Bashar al-Assad, who assumed power in 2000 after his father’s death, helping him strengthen his grip on power.
Members of the Syrian Ba’ath Party said that Khaddam, a lawyer, submitted his resignation the day before yesterday, making way for a new generation of politicians. This comes at a time when the Ba’ath Party is considering reforms.
In the days following Hafez al-Assad’s death, Khaddam oversaw the smooth transfer of power to Bashar. Diplomats say that Khaddam’s support was crucial in strengthening Bashar’s hold on power. Khaddam served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for 14 years before becoming the Vice President in 1984, playing a role in shaping Syrian policy in Lebanon, where Syria maintained a military presence for 29 years.
This year, Syria was forced to comply with the United Nations’ demand to withdraw its forces from Lebanon after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was a close friend of Khaddam.
Lebanese opposition figures blame Syria and its allies for Hariri’s assassination. Khaddam rushed to Lebanon to offer condolences to the Hariri family in what some political analysts described as an attempt to absolve Syria’s image.
He spoke emotionally about his friendship with Hariri in a rare interview with Lebanese television, saying that he was invited to lunch at Hariri’s house a few days before his assassination.
Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, strongly opposed by Damascus, Khaddam met with tribal and cultural groups in Iraq in an attempt to strengthen ties with Syria’s eastern neighbor once the U.S.-led forces left.
However, his efforts were significantly undermined by Washington’s accusations that Syria allowed anti-U.S. fighters to cross the border into Iraq to fight against American forces there.
Khaddam began his political career as the governor of Quneitra, then Hama, and later Damascus, after the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party came to power in 1963. This marked a rapid rise for a man who joined the party at the age of 17 and within a few years was elected as the Secretary of the Party Office in Damascus, then a member of the national leadership. Khaddam, a Sunni Muslim from a middle-class family in the town of Banias, assumed his first ministerial position as the Minister of Economy and Trade in the government formed by President Nur al-Din al-Atassi in 1969.
In 1970, a power struggle erupted within the Ba’ath Party, and Khaddam had to decide whether to align with Hafez al-Assad, the Defense Minister at the time. Following his political instincts, Khaddam got closer to Assad, who came to power in a bloodless coup, arresting his main opponents, including al-Atassi. After five days, Khaddam was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Assad’s new government, formed before his election as president the following year.
Khaddam’s main task was to end Syria’s political isolation resulting from its radical policies that placed conservative Arab rulers at odds. He succeeded in normalizing relations with most Arab countries.
Syria acknowledged UN Resolution 242, implicitly recognizing Israel’s right to exist. The previous government had rejected the resolution adopted after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, but Assad’s government froze it after Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.
Khaddam’s diplomatic skills were evident in negotiations after the 1973 war, leading to an agreement to cease hostilities with Israel. Khaddam was born in 1933, received his primary and secondary education in his hometown Banias, and studied law at Damascus University. He was an avid reader with a keen interest in politics.