If the words of Mr. Abdul Halim Khaddam, the former deputy to the Syrian president, were not important, the regime’s furious reaction to him and the Syrian-Lebanese security apparatus going into a phase of hallucination wouldn’t have occurred. One of these orphans, namely President Emile Lahoud, was forced to confirm that he harbors no enmity towards Rafik Hariri and that he had never sworn to stand against him until the last day of his life.
All of this may not be important, especially since Emile Lahoud deserves no more than being a relic of the past that the Lebanese and Arabs will discover sooner or later. However, what is crucial is that the statement issued by the Lebanese presidency accuses Khaddam of attempting to involve the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon and bringing it to the border or, more accurately, to the ceasefire line with the Israeli enemy. The statement adds that this does not align with the late President Hafez al-Assad’s orientations, as if sending the army to the so-called Blue Line is treason, and as if the army has a more important task than defending Lebanon and standing along the ceasefire line with the Israeli enemy.
Perhaps Khaddam was in favor of the national decision to send the army to the south, or perhaps he was not in favor of this decision, which ultimately serves the interests of Lebanon and Syria and not the interests of Israel, which has always sought to keep the southern Lebanese front open to blackmail Lebanon on one hand and to affirm that it is in a victimized position on the other hand, knowing that Israel never practices anything but terrorism. Moreover, its real and enduring ambition lies in finding someone to justify its actions, as recently happened in southern Lebanon when it launched Katyusha rockets at the settlement of Kiryat Shmona, allowing it to claim that it is under attack from southern Lebanon and that Lebanon is not a country capable of controlling its territory. Is this what Emile Lahoud and those who are behind the campaign against Abdul Halim Khaddam meant?
The former deputy to the Syrian president only spoke a part of the truth. It is certain that he has a lot more to say later about the assassination of Rafik Hariri, which was undoubtedly a conspiracy against the Syrian and Lebanese nations. Khaddam was clear in distinguishing between the regime and the nation, indicating that he decided to align with the nation and made his decision after losing hope in the possibility of reforming the regime. In this regard, it can be said that the man possessed no ethical values to refrain from playing a game that ultimately serves Israel’s interests. Can an Arab man with even a minimum level of national awareness imagine that there could be anyone benefiting from the assassination of Rafik Hariri, Bassel Fleihan, Samir Kassir, Georges Hawi, and Gebran Tueni other than Israel?
Those who reject sending the Lebanese army to the ceasefire line with Israel are working in the interest of the enemy, no more and no less. Anyone who worked to cover up the crime of Rafik Hariri’s assassination and the subsequent crimes is serving Israel, whether willingly or unwillingly. It is clear that what Abdul Halim Khaddam did, by exposing the instigators and criminals in the Rafik Hariri assassination case, is an integral part of the resistance waged by honorable Lebanese and Syrians against a fierce enemy that relies primarily on sectarian and religious divisions in the Arab world to sow discord and legitimize its actions at the regional level.
