Abdel Halim Khaddam, the former Vice President of Syria and opposition figure residing in Paris, stated that any negotiations with the regime or consideration of negotiations are “treason to the nation.”
In an interview with the Algerian newspaper “El Chourouk Al Yawmi” published on its website on Tuesday evening, Khaddam said: “Any negotiations with the regime or consideration of negotiations are considered treason to the nation. This regime has committed acts of genocide, destruction, killed more than a hundred thousand Syrians, and demolished 40% of Syria, carrying out sectarian massacres.”
He added, “We will not sit except on the grave of Bashar al-Assad. Dialogue with him is impossible. He will fall (Bashar). He still holds a position of power with Russia and China behind him. Let him go to Russia and China.”
He continued, “This criminal is the head of the country, and he uses the army he established to protect the Syrian people, but it has turned into a tool to kill Syrians.”
Khaddam rejected the task of the joint UN-Arab envoy to Syria, Algerian Lakhdar Brahimi, saying he is “incompetent and unqualified for this work at all.”
He elaborated, “All Syrian opposition rejects Lakhdar Brahimi because he came trying to establish dialogue with Bashar al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad is finished for Syrians; he is a murderer and a gang leader, he will be killed, and he will be uprooted from Syria.”
He also affirmed that “the pressures, persecution, and crimes committed by the regime formed an underground pressure force that paved the way for a revolution that erupted like volcanoes in the Syrian interior.”
Khaddam criticized the Algerian government’s stance on what is happening in Syria, accusing it of not being “loyal” to the Syrian people. He pointed out that the Algerian president made a big mistake, not only against the Syrian people but also against the Algerian people. He called on the Algerian government to take a position like the majority of Arab countries, “condemning the killings, severing relations with the regime, closing the embassy, and assisting the Syrian people.”
Khaddam emphasized that he respects all factions of the opposition and focuses his efforts on helping the internal situation, describing the formation of the coalition for a government without territory as a mistake.
