Mr. Abdel Halim Khaddam, the former Syrian Vice President, called for international military intervention to protect civilians in Syria. He stated that Syrians are daily subjected to massacres that have resulted in thousands of deaths, injuries, and the imprisonment of tens of thousands of innocent people without the international community taking action to protect them. He added, “I am confident that if the international and Arab stance continues to hesitate or delay decisive decisions, tens of thousands of Syrians will turn to violence against the regime, and then what will happen? It will be exactly what happened in Iraq.”
Khaddam pointed out that international intervention to protect civilians is legitimate, ethical, and legal, saying, “International intervention in support of people’s movements is legitimate and required by the United Nations Charter. What should this people do? Should they always remain exposed to death? This is neither logical nor just nor correct.”
The former Syrian Vice President emphasized that what he referred to as the massacres committed by the regime against civilians place the international community under unprecedented ethical and political responsibility and compel it to intervene by all means, including military, to protect civilians.
He stated that the Syrian people want international intervention urgently, saying, “The overwhelming majority of Syrians demand and wish that military intervention would work to save them. The evidence of this is the warm reception of the American and French ambassadors during their visit to the city of Hama, which means a message that the Syrian people need protection from their killers, and their killers are the regime rulers.”
Abdel Halim Khaddam launched a fierce attack on some factions of the Syrian opposition, stating that they do not represent the people: “All the councils and conferences that are proposed do not represent the Syrian people and do not represent the revolutionary movement in Syria. There is a question I address to the opposition that opposes military intervention, and this question is, after 40 years of fighting this regime, have you changed its situation?”
