“Khaddam criticizes Assad and confirms Syrians’ concern about his recklessness.”

publisher: الجزيرة .aljazeera.

Publishing date: 2006-08-30

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Abdul Halim Khaddam, former deputy to the Syrian president, said that the recent speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in front of the Syrian Journalists’ Union, in which he described some Arab leaders as “half men,” was like a “teenager’s high school speech.”

Khaddam, in an interview broadcast yesterday on the Lebanese-owned “Al-Mustaqbal” TV channel, owned by the Hariri family, considered any Arab war against Israel unlikely unless there is a partnership between Syria and Egypt.

He believed that Israel, which he resides in Paris after defecting from the Damascus regime, “achieved its main objectives” in the 34-day war with Hezbollah, which resulted in the “destruction of Lebanon.”

He revealed that the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad made a decision since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 not to engage the Syrian Golan Heights front, which is occupied by Israel, “and to drain Israel in Lebanon” by activating the resistance.

He said that Hafez al-Assad gave instructions to Syrian security agencies not to allow any resistance operation to be carried out from the Syrian Golan Heights area to avoid Israeli retaliation on Syrian soil, which would destabilize the regime.

He added that there is great concern in Syria that Bashar’s recklessness might lead to a conflict with Israel at an inappropriate time.

Khaddam, who was responsible for Lebanese affairs from the entry of Syrian forces into Lebanese territory in 1976 until the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, urged the Lebanese people to maintain their national unity, as it is the “sole guarantee for the Lebanese” to stabilize the situation after the ceasefire according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

He emphasized the importance for the Lebanese state to have control, implying that the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers carried out by Hezbollah on July 12th without consulting the Lebanese government was the reason Israel used to destroy Lebanese infrastructure.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, had announced in a television interview yesterday that if he knew the extent of Israel’s response, he wouldn’t have executed the soldier abduction operation.

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