Former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam has claimed that Daesh is backed by Iran and the terrorist group is part of the country’s broader strategy to see Sunnis fight each other in the region.
In an interview with Newsweek Middle East, Khaddam, who served over two decades as vice president, made a number of startling remarks about the crises in the region.
The former vice president, who has been in Paris since defecting from Syria in 2005, said: “The situation in Syria is highly complicated because of the stand taken by each of the great powers, in particular the US and Russia.”
Khaddam said Russia managed to pull the rug from under the feet of the United States in Syria and “Washington has no one but itself to blame.”
The 84-year-old went on to criticise US President Barack Obama for failing to take the opportunity to renew US relations with the Arab and Muslim world and for pushing Turkey into the arms of Russia by not supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his time of need. Moscow “received bonus points after tipping off Erdogan about the coup two days prior to the event,” Khaddan said.
Syria is a custodian of Iran but it wasn’t always the case claimed Khaddan. “Hafez Al-Assad never allowed the Iranians to intervene in Syrian affairs,” he said, citing examples of Iran’s attempts to expand in the region that were blocked by the previous president.
The conflict in Syria and Iraq is the same; both are suffering due to Iran’s expansionism in the region, he added.