Abdul Halim Khaddam

Abdul Halim Khaddam
عبد الحليم خدام
Vice President of Syria
In office
1984 – 6 June 2005
President Hafez al-Assad
Bashar al-Assad
Interim President of Syria
In office
10 June 2000 – 17 July 2000
Preceded by Hafez al-Assad
Succeeded by Bashar al-Assad
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
1970–1984
Preceded by Mustapha al-Said
Succeeded by Farouk al-Sharaa
Personal details
Born September 15, 1932 (1932-09-15) (age 79)
Baniyas, Syria
Political party Baath Party (until 2006)
National Salvation Front in Syria (from 2006)
Religion Sunni Islam

Abdul Halim Khaddam (Arabic: عبد الحليم خدام‎; born 15 September 1932) is a Syrian politician who was Vice President of Syria from 1984 to 2005.

Contents

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. He was long known as a loyalist of Hafez al-Assad, and held a strong position within the Syrian government. In 1969, Khaddam had a major role in sentencing prominent Syrian politicians to death in absentia, among them Amin al-Hafiz, Salah ad-Din al-Bitar, Nasim Al Safarjalani, Khaled Al Hakim and others, through a special military court headed by later Syrian Defence Minister, Mustafa Tlass, and Abdul Halim Khaddam, as prosecutor. He later 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 (the election was symbolic in nature as there was only one candidate and it somewhat represented an approval rating where the ba'ath claimed 97% of the votes), Bashar al-Assad, as the new President. At the time, there were rumours in Damascus that Khaddam would try to seize power.

Resignation

As the new President strengthened his grip on the Baathist bureaucracy, Khaddam, and other members of the "old guard" of the government, 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 government. 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 government. 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, but defended his predecessor Ghazi Kanaan - Syria's Interior Minister, who is believed to have either committed suicide or been assassinated 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 military presence in Lebanon.

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 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 government by the end of 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 Syrian government, 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'état. Khaddam leads the opposition group National Salvation Front in Syria which promises to bring down the government of Bashar Assad peacefully. The NSF had its last meeting on September 16, 2007 in Berlin, where some 140 opposition figures attended. On February 16, 2008 he accused the Syrian government of assassinating a top Hezbollah fugitive "for Israels sake."[2]

Role in the 2011 Syrian uprising

Khaddam is considered an opposition leader to the current Syrian regime by the United States and the EU. In an interview on Israel's channel 2 TV, Khaddam acknowledged that he received money and help from the U.S. and the EU in order to overthrow the Syrian regime.[3]

References

  1. ^ http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/776/re4.htm
  2. ^ "Khaddam Accuses Syria of Killing Mughniyeh". Naharnet. 16 February 2008. http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&07B7D1A92A0EC17BC22573F10059D42D. Retrieved 31 March 2011. 
  3. ^ "Khaddam acknowledges U.S. and E.U. help in overthrow of Syrian Regime". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COqBQYcrd9Q. 

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Hafez al-Assad		 President of Syria
(Acting President)
10 June – 17 July 2000		 Succeeded by
Bashar al-Assad
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