Abdel Halim Khaddam, the former Vice President of Syria, stated that the Syrian army’s invasion of the city of Hama the day before yesterday is the true beginning of the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Khaddam, who currently leads the National Salvation Front in opposition to the Syrian regime, emphasized in a phone call with the German news agency, “The acts of violence, murder, and military invasion, as happened yesterday in Hama and previously in Homs and other areas, which is likely to continue, signify one thing overall: that Syria is entering a new phase in which the Bashar al-Assad regime will come to an end.”
Khaddam, in exile, revealed his efforts to urge the international community to provide protected areas within Syria to serve as a refuge for Syrians fleeing from killings and intimidation. He explained, “We are currently urging the international community to work on creating protected areas to protect people fleeing from killings.” He added, “International intervention in some form is necessary to protect the Syrian people, considering that the Syrians are determined to make their protests peaceful without resorting to arms.” With the ongoing severe repression by the regime, it is the duty of the international community, in compliance with the UN Charter, to take measures to protect the Syrian people from this regime that has deviated from national and international legitimacy.
The Syrian opposition leader rejected discussions about the “Islamization” of the revolutionary movement in Syria, stating, “Those who describe the revolution as Islamic are the regime’s groups. Syria is a country with Muslims and Christians, both religious but never extremists. Muslims constitute the overwhelming majority in the country, and therefore, they appear as the clear numerical majority in the demonstrations, which is natural.” He added, “But they are not an extremist majority at all, and I assert that there is no Islamic trend towards extremism in Syria.”
