Former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam expressed confidence during our meeting in his suite at the famous Dorchester Hotel in London the day before yesterday, stating, “I am a man confident in myself because, as he said, I do not want to take any wrong step that could lead to failure, especially since the current regime in Damascus is inevitably heading towards collapse, having lost all the elements of its survival and continuity.” Khaddam outlined in an interview with “Al-Siyasa” his “roadmap” for dealing with the inflamed Syrian file when he defined his four red lines that should not be crossed in the declared media war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the “corrupt family” of the leaders of the “National Salvation Front,” which are:
- Neutralizing the Ba’ath Party in Syria from the battle against the regime because most party members are afflicted with it, just like the Syrian people.
- Neutralizing the army and separating it from that war because it is the “army of the people, not the army of the regime, and its responsibilities lie in protecting the homeland and the people, not protecting the corrupt and mischief-makers.”
- Neutralizing the Alawite sect, which is also afflicted by the regime falsely speaking in its name, and victimizing it, which works to create discord in the country by claiming and promoting the targeting of the Alawite sect. Khaddam emphasized the need for it to become a partner in democratic change and the rebuilding of the nation through the creation of a modern democratic civil state based on pluralism, rotation, and institutionalism, with reference to free parliamentary elections without bypassing any religious, sectarian, or ethnic group.
- “Our steadfast policy,” Khaddam said, “is to focus on the Syrian interior without looking outside so as not to give the Bashar al-Assad regime an excuse to describe us as returnees on the American tank, as we are already strong with the Syrian people and the Syrian army, and we do not need any tank to carry us to Damascus.”
When asked about his call in the “Final Statement Project of the Founding Conference of the National Salvation Front in Syria” for the Syrian armed forces to “assume their national and historical responsibilities towards the homeland and the people” and what percentage within the military institution can actually stand by the people against the existing family regime, he answered, “I did not leave Syria spontaneously like this without setting the firm foundations for what we are going to do.” He stated that the members of the armed forces are sons of the afflicted people who feel the pains of their families and interact with their suffering. Khaddam emphasized that the next step is to send delegations from the National Salvation Front and its friends to the international and Arab worlds “to explain the conditions that the Syrian people are suffering from and to reveal the crimes of the regime against them, the one that uses all means of repression and violence against the Syrians, violating laws, customs, and international agreements guaranteed to peoples in the rules of human rights.” Regarding his call in the final statement project of the front last Monday for the Syrian people to “break the barriers of fear sown by the regime throughout decades,” Khaddam affirmed that this repressive family regime is now on the brink of collapse, and the Syrians should no longer fear it. About his statement that he is “returning to Damascus soon,” Khaddam concluded the 45-minute conversation with me inside the doors of his suite on the third floor of the hotel guarded by five companions scrutinizing those entering with their electronic devices by saying, “You will soon see Bashar al-Assad behind bars.”