Syrian spokeswoman: Khaddam is still a leading figure

The Syrian minister of expatriates and spokeswoman for the 10th Baath party congress, ruling in Syria, stressed that the Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam is still a member in the Baath party regional leadership.

The Syrian minister Buthaina Shaaban said that Khaddam attended the conference's morning session and discussed as a member in the Baath party leadership. However, she indicated that Khaddam's situation will be clear in the last day of the congress. This came replying to news rumored on Khaddam's request to be exempted from his official duties.

Shaaban said that beginning the Baath party's 10th regional congress deliberations means that the Baath party regional leadership and the central committee are dissolved until the last day of the congress as a central committee for the party will be formed. This 70 member committee will elect the current regional leadership whose number will decrease from 21 to 15 members.

Certain members are rumored not to be included in the new leaderships. They are Abdul Halim Khaddam, Abdullah al-Ahmar, Zuheir Masharqa, Abdul Qader Qaddoura and Mustafa Tlass. Six new members are expected to be re-elected. They are the minister of Presidential affairs Ghassan al-Laham, the secretary of the Damascus branch of the Baath party Khalil Mashhadeyah, Aleppo Baath party branch secretary Abdul Qader al-Masri and the defense minister Hassan Turkmani.