The Syrian government, under Assad, was under enough trouble already when former Syrian Vice President accused Assad in a television interview of threatening Harriri. Khaddam was quoted as saying: "Hariri was subjected to many threats from Syria. ...Serious things were said. Once he was summoned to Damascus ... and spoken to in extremely harsh words by President Bashar Assad," Khaddam claimed he witnessed Assad making the following threat to Harriri: "You want to bring a (new) president in Lebanon. ... I will not allow that. I will crush whoever attempts to overturn our decision."
This is unprecedented in Arab history. Moreover, on January 6 2006 Khaddam told an Arab media outlet that he wanted the Syrian people to overthrow Assad's government. Khaddam was quoted as saying:
"This regime cannot be reformed, so there is nothing left but to oust it," he said.
"The Syrian people will be the ones to oust it."
"I did not contact anybody because change has to come from within. If the main vector for change is external, then the interests of the country are harmed."
The Syrian regime, under Assad, has been known to assasinate opposition leaders, wheather they would Lebanese like Harriri or Kurdish opposition groups. In the past year several anti-Syrian opposition leaders have been mysteriously assasinated.
When Khaddam resigned from his post in June 2005, he criticized the regime for failing to modernize and tried to make himself come across as a reformist. Some have questioned some of Khaddam's motives since prior to his resignation, he was fiercely opposed to any loosening of the Baath partys power.
Nonetheless, Assad was so outraged by Khaddam speaking out against him that he and his government accused him of treason. "You don't deserve to be a Syrian," one lawmaker called out during the treason hearing. These accusations are unprecedented in the Arab world and are likely to have widespread consequences in Syria and the Arab world and are likely to be damaging to Assad in the ongoing Harriri investigation. Meanwhile, Khaddam has called for a revolt in Syria against Assad, and there have been reports that Khaddam has joined forces with the banned Muslim Brotherhood to oppose Assad's rule.
Full List of Murdered anti-Syrian Clerics
Profile: Abdul Halim Khaddam
Former Syrian VP says Assad Threatened Harriri
Khaddam to be Charged with Treason
Analysis: Khaddam's Questionable Catharsis
Khaddam Calls for Syrian Revolt
Syria Says UN Investigators Cannot Quiz Assad
Arab Media Silent on Khaddam
There are signs that influential Arab media outlets have been instructed not to carry more statements by former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, who has called for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.Several Saudi-owned outlets have not shown or published lengthy interviews that they have conducted with Mr Khaddam.
Other Arab media sources say this is a result of instructions from the Saudi government.
There are also reports that another TV station, the Dubai-based al-Arabiya - financed in large part by Saudi money - backed out of showing new allegations by Mr Khaddam.
Unconfirmed reports in the Arab media suggest that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who both met Mr Assad over the weekend, are keen to ease the pressure on Syria, fearing that it may be getting out of control.
Khaddam, Muslim Brotherhood Team Up Against Assad
Former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam and the exiled leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood agreed on Wednesday to join forces to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
...
"There was agreement on a joint vision to save Syria from the crisis that the regime has placed it in," the source told Reuters in Beirut by telephone. "It was also agreed to contact other opposition leaders inside and outside Syria to come up with a joint plan of action."
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