Abdul Halim Khaddam, the former vice president of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, stated that he calls on the international community to provide military support to the Syrians. The militarization of the revolution has become an urgent demand to overthrow the Syrian regime. He clarified that the flaw now appears in the structure of Assad’s rule.
Khaddam emphasized during an interview with Al-Arabiya the necessity of favoring the military option by the international community or sending weapons to the Free Syrian Army to enable it to gain control on the ground. He affirmed that the regime’s violence would increase after the recent defections and that the fall of the regime is in favor of the international and Arab community.
Khaddam pointed out that the Syrian crisis contributed to the return of the Cold War winds. Russia and China represent the Eastern side, while Europe and America represent the Western side.
Regarding his interpretation of the results of the Friends of Syria conference held in Paris on Friday, Khaddam stated that it was a good conference but did not rise to the level of decisiveness. He suggested looking at how Russia is working tirelessly to provide substantial aid to Bashar’s regime. Khaddam also anticipated multiple defections in the near future as the national conscience awakens.
According to Khaddam, the defection of Manaf Tlass was a painful blow to Bashar al-Assad despite being away from his military position for some time. He indicated that Tlass had wanted to defect for a while, but the circumstances were not favorable.
In the early days of the Syrian revolution in 2011, Khaddam stated that Bashar al-Assad is a dictator who does not learn from the experiences of other presidents ousted by popular uprisings from their positions of power.
Khaddam announced his defection in December 2005 after his relationship with President Bashar al-Assad deteriorated, criticizing Syria’s foreign policy, especially in Lebanon. He called for working towards peaceful change in Syria by overthrowing the dictatorial regime and building a modern democratic state in Syria based on citizenship.
