To mark the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri 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. Khaddam died in Paris in 2020.
These memoirs offer an intimate glimpse into the corridors of power during a pivotal era in Syrian and Lebanese history. Here, Khaddam recounts his last conversation with Hariri, with warnings that went unheeded before his assassination.
Following Hariri’s resignation and departure from Lebanon, he was targeted by a concerted political and media campaign orchestrated by Syrian regime loyalists and security services in both Syria and Lebanon, but Khaddam said, “the more the attacks intensified, the more Hariri’s popularity grew”.
Khaddam notes that Hariri forged closer ties with Lebanese Druze politician Walid Jumblatt and the Christian factions represented in the Qornet Shehwan coalition. In early October 2004, there was an assassination attempt on the life of Lebanese politician Marwan Hamadeh, an ally of Jumblatt.
“The message was clear,” wrote Khaddam. “This was a warning to all those who dared oppose (Lebanese) President Emile Lahoud.” The day after the attack, Khaddam contacted Brig. Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh, Syria’s intelligence chief in Lebanon, said he would be going to Beirut to visit Hamadeh.
“Upon arriving at the American University Hospital in Beirut, I was greeted by Jumblatt, senior officials, and Hamadeh’s nephew journalist Gebran Tueni,” wrote Khaddam. Hamadeh was undergoing surgery, so Khaddam conveyed his heartfelt condolences. “Hamadeh was not only a political figure but also a close friend of mine,” he wrote.
Conspiracies and warnings
Khaddam was once responsible for the Lebanese file in Damascus but, by now, had largely withdrawn from Lebanese affairs, especially after Hariri’s recent resignation, and chose to keep a distance. Yet he grew increasingly alarmed by Bashar al-Assad’s erratic handling of the Lebanon portfolio.
“In mid-January 2005, we convened a Ba'ath Party leadership meeting at the presidential palace,” he writes. “The agenda was routine, focused on internal party matters. Then, without warning, Bashar al-Assad declared: ‘There is an American-French conspiracy against Syria, and Rafic Hariri is involved.’"
Khaddam was stunned, as were the other senior officials in attendance. Two days later, Khaddam met former Lebanese Defence Minister Mohsen Dalloul with a warning for Hariri. “Tell him his situation is becoming increasingly precarious. I strongly advise him to leave Lebanon immediately.”
As tensions escalated, an unexpected figure sought to mediate: Maher al-Assad, Bashar's younger brother and long-time commander of the Syrian Army's elite 4th Armoured Division, who was known for his hot temper.
