The dissident former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam called on President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power and hand it over to a national unity government, and advised him to carefully consider what happened in Tunisia and Egypt and what is happening in Libya. Khaddam said in a letter addressed to Assad yesterday, “I am addressing you with this letter while I am aware of the seriousness of the situation in the country and the extent of the tension of all kinds. I am also aware of the state of complaint and suffering over the existing conditions, especially the poor living conditions and the wolves of corruption taking over the country’s wealth and resources, which has increased this suffering and the extent of the complaint.” ».
He added, “I call on you, for the sake of the people who have endured suffering, oppression, killing, imprisonment, and poverty for forty-one years, to take a historic step, which is to form a transitional national unity government that will hand over power and relinquish it, so that this government will work to hold free elections for a constituent assembly that will exercise legislative authority, and from which a legitimate government will emerge, and establish A new constitution for the country, and the Constituent Assembly sets the legal rules for electing a new president.”
Khaddam, who held the position of Syrian Vice President since 1984 and defected from the regime in December 2005, is considered one of the lords of corruption in Syria.