Syrian exiles: We'll oust Assad
Exiled Syrian opposition leaders meet in Brussels, announce creation of united front aimed at forming transitional government to bring about 'regime change' to democracy
Former Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, who broke with Assad last year after serving under his late father Hafez Assad, told a news conference: "All factions of the Syrian opposition and activists have come to the conclusion that the regime in Syria has to be changed."
He spoke after a two-day meeting in Brussels of Syrian opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, liberals, communists and Kurds, at which they drew up a joint declaration on a six-month transition period for a post-Assad era.
However, it is not clear how much popular support the combined opposition can command in Syria, a tightly controlled country where penalties for dissent can be high.
Assad is under severe international pressure over the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri last year, which prompted mass protests and a United Nations resolution forcing the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
In an interview with Reuters, Khaddam forecast an uprising in Damascus within months, saying Assad was making many mistakes and "digging himself into a hole," while the economic and social situation was becoming intolerable.
Fourteen exiled politicians – all men – appeared on the platform at a joint news conference, with Khaddam and Muslim Brotherhood leader Ali Bayanouni taking centre-stage.
Bayanouni told Reuters that Assad still enjoyed international diplomatic and political protection from the West and urged the United States and Europe to boycott the Syrian government to hasten its fall.
No Massacre
"This is the first time in history that all the opposition movements inside and outside Syria have sat down at one table and agreed on a common plan," Husam al-Dairi, Washington-based leader of the Syrian Liberal National Democratic Party, said.
Khaddam, who lives in France, said he staged the meeting in Belgium because he is bound by French law to refrain from making statements against foreign governments as a condition of political asylum.
He said he had many supporters within the ruling Baath Party and the army.
"They will be active partners in the regime change and there will be no massacre," Khaddam told Reuters.
Despite the international pressure and the Lebanese demonstrations, there has been little sign of popular protest inside Syria, where security agencies keep a strong grip.
Assad and his vice-president have finally agreed to talk to the U.N. probe next month, the world body said this week.
Bayanouni told Reuters the opposition had agreed to a civil constitution and his movement, which considered itself moderate and close to Turkey's ruling AK Party, would not seek to impose Islamic Sharia law on Syria.
The United States and France have been in the lead in putting international pressure on Syria over the Hariri case.
But some diplomats say Washington and Paris may be reluctant to risk instability in Damascus at a time of worsening civil strife in neighboring Iraq and after the victory of the Hamas Islamist movement in the Palestinian territories.
Asked why he believed Syria was ripe for an uprising, Bayanouni said: "We believe this regime has now fulfilled all the reasons to collapse. It has no public base. It is isolated internally and it is making foreign policy mistakes that are isolating it internationally."
