Abdul Halim Khaddam, the former deputy to the Syrian President, denied the accuracy of what the famous American journalist Seymour Hersh mentioned in The New Yorker magazine. Hersh claimed that the Syrian Salvation Front, of which Khaddam is a part, and which includes various Syrian opposition parties, receives financial support from the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Khaddam accused the magazine of publishing a paid article by the Syrian embassy in Washington with the aim of smearing Saudi Arabia. He added that Bashar al-Assad is seeking reconciliation with Saudi Arabia because he is isolated. However, at the same time, if he has the opportunity to stab Saudi Arabia in the back, he will not hesitate to do so. He recalled that the Syrian President launched a campaign against Saudi leaders and all Arab leaders after the recent war in Lebanon.
Khaddam emphasized that the Syrian Salvation Front, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, is not seeking financial or military aid but rather political support.
Seymour Hersh had published an extensive article in the latest issue of The New Yorker weekly magazine about the change in the US administration’s strategy in the Middle East to contain Iran’s influence in the region, along with its ally Syria.
He added that the new US strategy is being implemented with security coordination with Saudi Arabia, pointing out that the key figures behind it are US Vice President Dick Cheney, Saudi National Security Advisor Prince Bandar bin Sultan, as well as Eliot Abrams, the US Deputy National Security Advisor, and US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad.
Hersh quoted a high-ranking official in the US intelligence agency saying that the US administration provided financial and political support to the Syrian opposition and that Saudi Arabia handled the financial support to Abdul Halim Khaddam, who is currently in exile in Paris, with the knowledge of the White House.
He also mentioned that the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told the US Vice President last year that Syria is the main link between Lebanon and Iran. He stressed that weakening Iran requires effective support for the Syrian opposition.
Jumblatt also advised Cheney that if the United States wanted to act against the Syrian regime, it should establish contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood if it wished to move against the Syrian regime.
On his part, Abdul Halim Khaddam considered that the Syrian regime is a partner in Iran’s crisis with the international community. He called on the Lebanese parties to overcome the crisis they are going through and not to become a tool to protect the Syrian regime from the International Court, as he put it.
