Former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam indicated that “the situation in Syria after Bashar al-Assad took power has become unbearable.” He pointed out that he “was not reassured about the consequences of this resignation, but these concerns quickly disappeared when he met Assad, who asked him to mediate with former French President Jacques Chirac.” Khaddam expressed “deep regret for his political career with the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad,” stating that he “agreed with Hafez al-Assad for many years because he aimed to build a democratic Syria that respects freedoms and justice. However, things changed, and calculations and corruption emerged.”
In an exclusive statement to the Saudi newspaper “Okaz,” Khaddam believed that “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the murderer of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and no security entity can carry out a similar operation without resorting to Assad’s opinion. No one else has an interest in killing Hariri except Assad.” He added: “A week before Hariri’s assassination, there was a meeting of party leaders to discuss an internal organizational matter unrelated to foreign policy. Suddenly Bashar al-Assad said, ‘Hariri is conspiring against us, along with Chirac and the Americans. Hariri is our sworn enemy.’ The leadership was astonished by this statement, and I asked him at that time: ‘Why this talk now, and what is the benefit of it?’ He did not answer and remained silent.”
He also pointed out that he “tried to alert Hariri because he knows how Assad thinks. The next day, he sent him a message saying, ‘Pack your things and leave Lebanon.’ After two days, MP Marwan Hamadeh survived an assassination attempt. I visited him in the hospital and then went to Rafik Hariri’s house, had lunch with him at his home.” He said, “I told him then, ‘You must leave Lebanon tomorrow morning because they will kill you.’ He replied, ‘But Maher al-Assad called me and said, ‘You are our friend and close to us.’ I answered him, ‘They did this just to give you security and reassure you.’ He did not hear my words and believed their words. Two days later, he was assassinated.”
Khaddam believed that “Hafez al-Assad had a thinking mind, calculated, and did not slip, and he would not take action unless he was sure of victory. He did not make impulsive decisions. As for his son Bashar, he slides quickly and does not think about the consequences, and there is a big difference between him and his father.”
