Syria's Khaddam forming exile government

BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Syrian vice president Abdel-Halim Khaddam, a fierce critic of President Bashar al-Assad, told a German magazine he was forming a government in exile and believed Assad would be forced from power this year.

Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, told the weekly Der Spiegel on Saturday that Assad was facing growing pressure from economic problems at home and the international investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

"His fall has already begun. I don't think his regime will last out this year," Khaddam, who accuses Assad of ordering Hariri's murder, said.

The former vice president, for 30 years a confidant of Assad's late father, Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, left the government in June.

He has been accused of treason and expelled from the ruling Baath Party after a series of verbal attacks on the president.

Khaddam told leading Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat earlier this month that he wanted the Syrian government toppled.

Asked by Der Spiegel whether he was seeking to form a government-in-exile, he said: "That is correct".

He said he would be ready to work with both Islamist leaders, whom he called "part of the rich Islamic mosaic that defines the basic character of our country" and the Baath Party.

"I would not rule out any political group that sticks to the basic rules of democracy," he said.

"One should not make the mistake with the Syrian Baath Party that the Americans made with the Iraqi Baath Party," he said.

"The majority of Baathists in Syria have long ago turned against the regime. They see the government's mistakes every day," he said.

Khaddam also repeated the allegation he made earlier this week that Assad had ordered the murder of Hariri.

"I'm convinced: the order came from Assad. He is an extremely impulsive man, he is always losing his cool."

Syria has denied any role in the bomb blast that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut last year.