Former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam affirmed that the Bashar al-Assad regime has started resorting to sectarian liquidation in the coastal areas, aiming to establish an Alawite entity in Homs. He noted that the regime is attempting in various ways to survive in any form, and Bashar believes that establishing the Alawite state will protect him from the Syrian people. The Assad plan involves controlling Homs as the center of the Alawite state, with the Alawite axis extending from the coastal areas in the north to Homs in the center, and down to northern Lebanon in the south, bordering the Mediterranean Sea. This, according to Khaddam, explains Hezbollah’s recent involvement in the war in Syria.
Speaking to the Saudi newspaper “Okaz,” Khaddam held the world responsible for what is happening in Syria, considering that “if Washington wanted to resolve the Syrian crisis, it would have done so a long time ago.”
He warned of the growing Iranian control over Syria, urging Arab countries to “intervene to stop the Iranian tide,” emphasizing that “the Iranian goal is to control the Middle East, and Syria is the gateway to that.”
He believed that “there is still a glimmer of hope to preserve Syria if there is qualitative military assistance from Western countries, led by the United States. The rebels are capable of tipping the balance of the conflict,” considering that “the rebels can expel Iranian influence and cut off the road to Iran.”
