Khaddam: The survival of Assad or his Fall is Decided by the International Community

Abdel-Halim Khaddam, former vice-president in the Assad regime who defected in 2005, denounced “the regime’s sham elections which Bashar al-Assad is keen to hold in blatant defiance of the international community.” Khaddam stressed that “Iran is responsible for drawing ISISI into Syria to aid the Assad regime because his downfall would be a painful blow to the Iranian regime. Assad’s fall undoubtedly means undermining the role of Iran in the region and will weaken the role of Hezbollah in Lebanon.” He also pointed out that “if the Arab countries supply Syrians with advanced weapons they will topple the Assad regime in a month. “There is a pressing need for the unification of the support for the Syrian opposition which is in a dire need for anti-tank and aircraft missiles, medium and short-range missiles to counter regime forces.” Khaddam pointed to the role of Bashar al-Assad in sending terrorists to Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003, confirming that “there were nearly 1,800 of detainees of different nationalities in Syrian prisons at the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. Assad released them to send them to Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks. , according to an interview with some officers close to the security apparatus, which outraged the United States. The U.S. ambassador to Syria met with Assad and ordered him to close the border with Iraq, to withdraw his forces from Lebanon, and to close the offices of the Palestinian organizations in Syria, to which Assad fully complied.” Khaddam concluded his remarks pointing to the world’s passiveness towards the Syrian Revolution and its dubious silence towards his crimes. If the West wants Assad to survive, then he will remain in power for more than 20 year. And if they work on toppling him, it will not take more than a month. He stressed that the West should not worry about the extremist groups in Syria because they will cease to exist with the fall of Assad.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Middle East)