To mark the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, which took place on 14 February 2005, Al Majalla unveils excerpts from the memoirs of Syria’s late former Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, soon to be published by Raff Publishing, a subsidiary of the Saudi Research and Media Group.
These memoirs offer an intimate glimpse into the corridors of power during a pivotal era in Syrian and Lebanese history. Here, Khaddam recalls his first encounter with Bashar al-Assad, who later became Syria’s president, before being deposed in 2024.
Their initial meeting took place in Qardaha in January 1994 during the funeral of Bashar’s older brother, Bassel. Two years earlier, Khaddam had briefly met Bassel during the funeral of his own grandmother. “I had no interactions with President Hafez al-Assad’s children or the children of other officials due to the difference in age,” he writes. “However, a bond of friendship developed between Bashar and my sons—Jamal, Jihad, and Bassem.”
Whilst in Qardaha, Khaddam learned of a decisive family gathering in which Hafez al-Assad’s wife, Anisa Makhlouf, and her brother, Mohammad Makhlouf, resolved to end Bashar’s medical studies in London to position him as the heir to his late brother, Bassel, who Hafez had prepared for leadership since the late 1980s.
Upon his return, Bashar was swiftly ushered into the military, undergoing rigorous training before assuming an increasingly influential role in state and military affairs. His office in Dummar, which once belonged to Bassel, soon became a magnet for ministers, officials, and those eager to curry favour with the new power-in-waiting.
The politically ambitious flocked to him, hoping to secure a place within the emerging order as Bashar’s stature within Syria’s ruling elite steadily grew.
Lebanese politics
As the official overseeing Syria’s Lebanon dossier, Khaddam recalls Bashar al-Assad’s early entanglement in Lebanon’s intricate politics leading up to the 1998 presidential election of Emile Lahoud, whose win unleashed a political maelstrom in Lebanon.
The move was met with fierce opposition from several of Syria’s longstanding allies, including Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Khaddam said Hariri and minister Suleiman Frangieh “forged a close alliance” with Bashar, as they had done with Bassel.
Similarly, Talal Arslan (a Druze politician) and Michel Samaha (a Christian politician and former minister) cultivated strong ties with Bashar, advising him on Lebanon. Yet their vision was at odds with the Lebanese government of Rafic Hariri.
It was Frangieh who facilitated Bashar's connection with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Emile Lahoud, "opening a gateway for the young Assad to immerse himself in regional politics". Before long, Khaddam said Bashar was "bypassing Syria's designated political committee, which had traditionally managed Lebanese affairs, and taking matters into his own hands".
According to Khaddam, Bashar ultimately succeeded in persuading his father to endorse Lahoud's candidacy, ensuring Syria's backing despite the objections of key Lebanese powerbrokers such as Jumblatt, Berri, and Hariri.
Lahoud controversy
Khaddam described Lahoud as "temperamental, impulsive, and wholly unfit to govern a country as complex as Lebanon... lacking political acumen, with no real understanding of Lebanon's deep-seated divisions, nor any familiarity with the subtleties of its society".
The vice-president cautioned Syria's President Hafez al-Assad against Lahoud's candidacy, yet Hafez "remained resolute in his decision... Ultimately, Bashar orchestrated Lahoud's ascension to the presidency, securing his instalment at Baabda Palace on 24 November 1998". Furthermore, Bashar got Syrian intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan to put pressure on Lebanese MPs to back it, Khaddam says.
"This was despite fierce opposition from key political figures, including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Walid Jumblatt, both of whom steadfastly resisted Syria's directive to endorse Lahoud." After Lahoud was elected, Khaddam asked to be relieved of his responsibilities regarding Lebanese affairs.
"My opposition to Lahoud's election was well known, and it was clear that my stance would inevitably strain my relationship with (Lahoud). "Hafez acquiesced to my request, transferring oversight of Lebanon's affairs to Bashar. With that, the political stewardship of this intricate dossier came to an end, and control over Lebanon's governance was relegated entirely to Syria's security apparatus."
Until then, Khaddam had only met Bashar at Bassel's funeral. "Then, Gen. Ibrahim al-Safi (commander of Syrian forces in Lebanon) and Ezzedine Nasser (head of the Workers' Union) approached me, suggesting a meeting with him. I hesitated to respond. Soon after, Gen. Ghazi Kanaan also pressed the matter with urgency."
Within days, Khaddam agreed to meet Bashar at his home in Damascus. Bashar came with al-Safi, Nasser, and Kanaan. "The meeting stretched over four hours, during which we deliberated on domestic affairs, economic challenges, and the endemic corruption within state institutions. Bashar proved receptive, articulating his views on these pressing issues at length. I left the meeting with a favourable impression."
The two Assads
In his memoirs, Khaddam reflects on the early deterioration of his relationship with Bashar al-Assad and a meeting with Ghazi Kanaan. "As the year 2000 unfolded, I began to hear disparaging remarks from Bashar about me, yet I chose to disregard them," the late Syrian vice president writes.
"Then, in late January, while in Baniyas, Ghazi Kanaan paid me a visit. He inquired about the growing tension between me and the president's inner circle, saying, 'They claim you have been openly criticising the president in private conversations and that you even spoke against him during a meeting of the Ba'ath Party's regional leadership.'"
Khaddam replied with candour. "The problem with President Hafez and his son is that their minds reside in their ears. I have been in Damascus all along—why did President Hafez not simply call me and ask me himself?" Kanaan said there were "those who seek to sow discord" between Khaddam and the Assads and suggested a meeting at his home in Lebanon.
At that meeting, Khaddam said: "Bashar and I sat alone. He turned to me and asked, 'Why do you attack my father when you have always been known as his confidant and partner in all matters of foreign policy?'"
Khaddam recalled that an issue arose after Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa reported on his meeting in Washington with (Israel's) Ehud Barak, US President Bill Clinton, and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations.
"Al-Sharaa claimed that Clinton was firmly aligned with Syria's interests. After he concluded his address, I turned to him and said, 'Farouk, you have served in the Foreign Ministry for nearly 20 years. I find it baffling that you claim Clinton is on our side—when he just granted Israel 50 F-16 fighter jets."
According to Khaddam, Bashar replied that Farouk al-Sharaa "is not a smart man". So why, then, was he kept in-post, Khaddam asked. "He fell silent and did not answer."
