The former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam announced that he is working to form a government in exile, expressing his confidence that President Bashar al-Assad will be forced to step down during the current year. Meanwhile, Khaddam’s son, Jihad, denied that the French authorities have requested his father to leave the country for any Arab state, as reported by Syrian official sources.
Khaddam stated in an interview published by the German magazine “Der Spiegel” this week, responding to a question about his intention to form a government in exile, “This is true, and I do not exclude any political group that respects the rules of the democratic game” from this government in exile. He indicated that he would be ready to work with Islamist leaders whom he described as “part of the rich Islamic fabric that defines the main character of our country” and the Baath Party.
Khaddam clarified, “No one should make the mistake with the Syrian Baath Party that the Americans made with the Iraqi Baath Party,” considering that “the majority of Baathists in Syria turned against the regime a long time ago. They see the government’s mistakes every day.”
Khaddam considered that Bashar al-Assad’s days in the presidency are numbered, pointing out that Syria is exclusively controlled by the president’s family “in the style of a gang of thieves.” He added, “The fall has begun, and I don’t think the regime will last more than this year.”
He reiterated his “confidence” that Assad was the one who ordered the assassination of the late President Rafik Hariri, stating, “I am convinced… the order came from Assad. He is a reckless man, and he always loses his composure.”
Khaddam’s son announced that his father would remain in France and has no intention of moving to Saudi Arabia. Jihad Khaddam stated, “There is no harassment from the French government; quite the opposite, and there is no project to move to Saudi Arabia.” He considered these reports as “misleading” by the Syrian regime.
