UPI: Former Syrian Vice President turned dissident Abdul-Halim Khaddam said that the recent communications conducted by Britain and the United States with the regime in Damascus did not come as a shock to the opposition National Salvation Front that he leads, and he believed they would not yield results. He accused Iran of initiating a process of Shiitization in Syria. Khaddam said in an interview with United Press International that he believed the visit of the British advisor, Nigel Sheinwald, to Damascus comes from a desire to assess the possibility of changing the regime’s behavior, and here lies the mistake because the behavior is produced by the regime, and the nature of the dictatorial individual regime can only produce aggressive behavior inside and outside the country.
Khaddam, who defected late last year and founded the Salvation Front with the General Observer of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, and other opposition figures, added that the issue is about this regime and whether it is a normal or abnormal regime. If the regime is normal, then Britain should reconsider its history and apologize for Nazism.
He expressed his belief that those who advised British Prime Minister Tony Blair to take this initiative know the nature of the regime but expected that such contact might bring them something new. The British government has contacted the regime several times before, and Blair has met with Bashar al-Assad and heard good words from him, but he did not implement anything. This has happened with the Spanish, the Italians, and the Americans. The problem is that President Bashar al-Assad has put Syrian interests on the shelf and is looking out for his interests. He believes that aligning himself with Iran and accepting to make Syria a pawn in its strategy ensures his protection.