Former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, who fled the country in 2005, told Reuters in Brussels after the deadly May 11 crackdown that Assad “is doing what [Libyan ruler] Muammar Qaddafi has done.”
“At some point, an intervention might be needed. The people are being killed,” Khaddam said.
“A regime that kills its own people is not legitimate. In fact, they are enemies of their own people and therefore they will not gain national legacy,” he added. “The national legacy will demand the getting rid of [the leadership] by any means.”
Khaddam said he thought the number of deaths in Syria is “largely underestimated.” He said more than 2,000 protesters had been killed across the country in the past seven weeks.
With hundreds listed as missing, he said he thought many have been killed by government troops and that the regime has “made their bodies disappear.”
