Administration backing Paris-based opposition group against Assad

Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has been working with a former Syrian
vice president to help overthrow the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Officials said the administration of President Barack Obama has been
consulting with former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, based in
France and an opposition figure for the last few years. They said Khaddam
has sought to raise his profile in the Saudi-financed opposition by
establishing the National Committee to Support the Syrian Revolution.

Former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam at his home in Paris.

“My understanding is that we have had contact with the group in Paris,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

In a briefing on Nov. 7, Ms. Nuland did not provide details of U.S. negotiations with the Syrian opposition committee, announced hours earlier. She said Washington was urging the new group as well as the rest of the Syrian opposition — much of it based in Istanbul, Turkey — to unite.

“Our message continues to be that the Syrian opposition in Syria, the Syrian opposition in exile, needs to work together and needs to lay out as clearly as it can a roadmap for change that its people can rally around and that can unite the aspirations of these different groups,” Ms. Nuland said.

Over the last four months, the State Department has been meeting with
the Islamist opposition to Assad. Officials cited consultations with the
Turkish-supported Syrian National Council, which has called for
international protection for the northern city of Homs.

“Almost all the Arab leaders, foreign ministers who I talk to say the
same thing: Assad’s rule is coming to an end,” Assistant Secretary of State
Jeffrey Feltman said. “It is inevitable. Some of these Arabs have
even begun to offer Assad safe haven to encourage him to leave quickly.”

Officials said Washington has sought to stop weapons shipments to Syria.
They said the Assad regime faced a decline in funds as well as increased
defections of the military.

“Assad may be able to delay change, but he cannot deny his people’s
legitimate demands indefinitely,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
“Those leaders trying to hold back the future at the point of a gun should
know their days are numbered.”

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