Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, who sought refuge in France, stated in an interview with the newspaper “Le Figaro” on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is mobilizing his weapons in Alawite areas.
The former Syrian official, who defected from the regime in 2005 and has been living in France since then, accused the Syrian president of attempting to implement a plan to “divide” the country. He added, “Bashar and his family first distributed rifles and machine guns in cities and villages inhabited by Alawites from their sect. Since a month ago, they started transferring heavy weapons by land towards the coast to hide them in the hills and mountains.”
He continued, “All rockets and strategic weapons have been transferred. As for tanks and artillery, only a portion of them because the regime needs to retain some to suppress protesters in cities. Bashar also plans to send fighter jets to Latakia airport.”
The Alawite sect, from which the Assad family originates, constitutes 8% of the population in Syria. Khaddam explained that “Alawite areas include southwest Homs and extend northwards through Hama to reach Latakia on the coast.”
He stated that Assad is currently implementing a plan “aimed at stirring sectarian war.” He added, “The regime failed, and now the only option left is to implement a plan to destabilize and divide Syria, which would destroy the country.”
He continued, “I know that he (Assad) has, for a month, confided in one of his Lebanese allies about his intention to establish an Alawite state from which he can launch a civil and sectarian war.”
