Abdul Halim Khaddam

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Abdul Halim Khaddam
عبد الحليم خدام
Abdul Halim Khaddam
In office
10 June 2000 – 17 July 2000
Preceded by Hafez al-Assad
Succeeded by Bashar al-Assad
In office
1984 – 6 June 2005
Born September 15, 1932 (1932-09-15) (age 75)
Baniyas, Syria
Political party Baath Party

Abdul Halim Khaddam (Arabic: عبد الحليم خدام‎; born 15 September 1932 in Baniyas) is a Syrian politician and former Vice President of Syria.

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[edit] Early life and career

Abdul Halim Khaddam was born on 15 September 1932 in Baniyas, Syria, Abdul Halim was one of the few Sunni Muslims to make it to the top of the Alawite-dominated Syrian leadership, Khaddam was long known as a loyalist of Hafez al-Assad, and held a strong position within the regime. He served as foreign minister of Syria from 1970 to 1984 and as Vice President of Syria from 1984 to 2005. He was interim President of Syria from June 10 to July 17, 2000, between the death of Hafez and the election of his son, Bashar al-Assad, as the new President. At the time, there were rumours in Damascus that Khaddam would try to seize power.

[edit] Resignation

As the new President strengthened his grip on the Baathist bureaucracy, Khaddam, and other members of the "old guard" of the regime, gradually lost influence. He announced his resignation on 6 June 2005, during the Ba'th Party Conference. That made him one of the last influential members of the "old guard" to leave the top tier of the regime. The announcement came at a point when his political wings had already been clipped, but still the most powerful Sunni member in an Alawi Shi'ite regime. After resigning, he relocated to Paris, France, ostensibly to write his memoirs[1].

In an interview with Al Arabiya network from Paris, France, on December 30, 2005 Khaddam denounced Assad's many "political blunders" in dealing with Lebanon. He especially attacked Rustum Ghazali, former head of Syrian operations in Lebanon, and defended his predecessor Ghazi Kanaan - Syria's Interior Minister, who is believed to have committed suicide in October 2005. Khaddam also said that former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, to whom Khaddam was considered close, "received many threats" from Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The assassination of al-Hariri in February 2005 triggered the massive protests that eventually ended the 30-year long Syrian occupation of Lebanon.

[edit] Exile

The Syrian parliament responded the next day by voting to bring treason charges against him, and the Baath Party expelled him. Following the Khaddam interview, the UN Commission headed by Detlev Mehlis investigating the al-Hariri murder said it had asked the Syrian authorities to question Bashar al-Assad and Syria's Foreign Minister Faruq al-Sharaa. According to the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper, the Commission has interviewed Khaddam on January 5, 2006.

On 14 January Khaddam announced that he was forming a 'government in exile', predicting the end of al-Assad's regime by the end of year 2006. His accusations against al-Assad and his inner circle regarding the al-Hariri murder also grew more explicit: Khaddam said he believed that al-Assad ordered al-Hariri's assassination.

Khaddam is the highest ranking Syrian official to have publicly cut his ties with the authoritarian regime, with the possible exception of Rifaat al-Assad, brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, who was exiled in 1983, following an attempted coup d'êtat. Khaddam leads the opposition group NSF (National Salvation Front) that promises to bring down the regime of Bashar Assad peacefully. The NSF had its last meeting on September 16, 2007 in Berlin, where some 140 opposition figures attended. On Feb 16th, 2008, he accused the Syrian regime of assassinating a top Hezbollah fugitive "for Israels sake." [2]

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Hafez al-Assad		 President of Syria
(Acting President)
10 June – 17 July 2000		 Succeeded by
Bashar al-Assad
v • d • e
Heads of state of Syria since 1922
al-Khalidi • Pierre-Alype* • Shariyari • al-Hasani • al-Abid • H. al-Atassi • al-Khatib • al-Azm* • al-Hasani • al-Ulshi* • al-Ayyubi • al-Quwatli • al-Za'im • H. al-Atassi • Selu† • Shishakli† • H. al-Atassi • al-Quwatli • Abdel Nasser • al-Kuzbari* • an-Nuss* • al-Kudsi • L. al-Atassi† • al-Hafiz† • N. al-Atassi • al-Khatib • H. al-Assad • Khaddam* • B. al-Assad
*denotes acting     †military ruler
 Flag of Syria
Persondata
NAME Khaddam, Abdul Halim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES عبد الحليم خدام (Arabic); Khaddam, Abdulhalim (alternate transliteration)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Syrian leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Baniyas
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH