> Assad told Hariri: "I will crush anyone who tries to oppose our decisions."

> The meeting took place a few months before the February 14 assassination of Hariri in a Beirut bomb blast for which a UN probe has implicated Syrian intelligence.

> The Syrian intelligence services could not have carried out such an operation without Assad being informed, he said, when asked if the head of state could have been unaware. "We must await the results of the investigation, but no Syrian security service could take such a decision unilaterally," he said. "This was a big operation with an apparatus behind it, not individuals. The investigation will reveal what that apparatus was.

> He had advised Hariri "to leave Lebanon months before the murder because his situation regarding Syria had become complicated" in the wake of the threat. "But, of course, at no time did it occur to me that Syria could assassinate Hariri."

> He blamed Rustom Ghazaleh for the tension in Lebanon prior to the murder of Hariri. "Rustom Ghazaleh behaved as if he had absolute power in Lebanon."

> He had failed to convince Assad to have Rustom Ghazaleh replaced.

> Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud and Jamil al-Sayyed, former head of the Surete Generale, had "incited" Assad against Hariri.

> "The campaigns launched by Lahoud and Sayyed were immense and Assad was greatly influenced by them," he added.

> He praised the Mehlis report, saying it was "professional and dealt with facts. What gave it a political nature was the list of names of those implicated," he added.

This is by far the most serious blow to Syria's continued denials of any involvement in Hariri's murder, since Khaddam is the most senior member of the inner circle of the Assad regime and his revelation carries a lot of weight.

The first thing the new UN commissioner should do is to stop in Paris on his way to Beirut and interview Khaddam. It will be advisable if Mehlis could accompany him since he is extremely familiar with the case.

The second thing the new commissioner should do is insist on interviewing president Assad himself. As Khaddam said "no Syrian security service could take such a decision (assassination) unilaterally."

The third thing the new commissioner should do is insist on interviewing president Lahoud again. As Khaddam said he incited Assad against Hariri.

The time to bring this probe to conclusion has come. The Assad regime can no longer deny its involvement in the murder. The truth is finally around the corner.

Background and more on the Arabiya TV interview

During Syria's occupation of Lebanon, Khaddam was responsible for what the Syrian regime called "the Lebanese file". He was very close to Hariri and was the only official that came to the funeral to pay respects. He was quoted as saying: The murder was a "huge earthquake, whose consequences it will be difficult to contain."

"It is the murder of a dream, of the hope and the peace of Lebanon," he said of Hariri, whom he called a "martyr".

Khaddam, veteran aide to Syria's late President Hafez Assad, stepped down in June, almost five months after the February 14 assassination of Hariri but it was only during the interview Friday that he formally announced his resignation.

On Rustom Ghazaleh

"When the Chief of the Intelligence apparatus in Lebanon (Rustom Ghazaleh) speaks with his guests while playing with his gun... a lot of threatening words were used against Hariri" during one of the occasions when he was summoned to Damascus (for the infamous August 2004 meeting).

Khaddam added that Ghazaleh acted as if he was "the absolute ruler of Lebanon. He insulted senior Lebanese officials such as Hariri, Speaker Nabih Berri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt on many occasions."

"I also told Assad that Ghazaleh embezzled $35 million from Al-Madina Bank and that he should be removed, to which Assad replied 'don't worry about Ghazaleh he is a thief.'

"Why is Rustom Ghazaleh protected and we all know his vices? This is a question that the Syrians are asking," He added.

Ghazaleh is one of several Syrian security officials who were interrogated in Vienna by UN investigators.

On the threats that Assad made to Hariri

"I heard about this meeting from three sources. I heard it from Ghazi Kenaan (former Syrian Interior Minister), President Bashar Assad and the late Hariri," said Khaddam.

"Hariri was on the receiving end of some very vicious words. I knew about that from [President Bashar Assad], he told me of the conversation," he added

"I told [Assad] you are talking to a prime minister in front of Ghazaleh ... How can you say such things in front of junior officers?" Khaddam continued.

On the assassination of Hariri

It was "stupid to blame an individual because this type of attack needs a lot of sophisticated technology, tons of explosives and planners who have a leader." This was in reference to Syria's claim that a Palestinian suicide bomber was responsible for assassination.

On corruption in Syria

"How can a security employee with a salary of 200 Syrian pounds ($4) die with a $4 billion fortune. How can an airline employee and his son end up with billions of dollars?"

He did not give names but the only known former airline employee in the Syrian hierarchy is foreign minister Farouk Al-Sharaa.

On why he left Syria

That he had voluntarily left his homeland, adding that reports he had been threatened were "untrue up to now." Asked if he expects his life to be in danger in light of his remarks during the interview, he said: "I expect his [Assad's] entourage will mislead him."

He claimed to have left his homeland on good terms with Assad. "There are differences in opinions but there was mutual respect," he said.

Khaddam said he was "convinced that the reform process, whether political, economic or administrative, will not succeed" and that he preferred to choose "his motherland" over "the regime."

Source: Al Arabiya TV, Agencies

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