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Raff Publishing, the dedicated publishing arm of the Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG), is set to release The Khaddam Memoirs, a single-volume book drawn from the personal and political archive of the late Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria’s former Vice President. Khaddam spent more than three decades within Syria’s ruling circles before announcing his defection in Paris in 2005.
Compiled and edited by Ibrahim Hamidi, Editor-in-Chief of Al Majalla, the Arab world’s leading current affairs magazine, the book brings to the public a political archive assembled over decades at the heart of Syrian power. The collection includes thousands of documents, handwritten notes, private correspondence, personal files and first-hand accounts spanning the rule of Hafez Al Assad, the rise of Bashar Al Assad, Syria’s role in Lebanon, and the regional and international relationships that helped shape the modern Middle East.
The Khaddam Memoirs forms part of a forthcoming series of political books, focused on the Middle East, to be published by Raff Publishing in collaboration with Hamidi.
The book offers rare access to Syria’s internal affairs and power struggles within the regime, as well as its relations with Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, alongside the United States, the United Kingdom and France. In doing so, it brings some of the region’s most contested political periods back under close examination.
The book includes Khaddam’s testimony on the months leading up to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri, including his final warning to Hariri six days before the killing. It also covers the internal power struggles that followed the death of Hafez Al Assad, allegations surrounding the financial management of the Syrian state, and the removal from Syria of Hafez Al Assad’s brother Rifaat following the brothers’ power struggle in the early 1980s. It also reveals, for the first time, diplomatic correspondence with regional and international leaders.
Commenting on the launch, Ibrahim Hamidi said: “The significance of this archive lies in the fact that it comes from within the system itself. It is not simply a retrospective account from the margins, but a record grounded in documents, correspondence and the testimony of a senior official who was present at some of the most pivotal moments in Syria’s modern history.”
Hamidi added: “This book does not seek to close the chapter on that period of history. Instead, it opens the door to deeper reading and understanding, offering readers, journalists, researchers and policymakers new material through which to examine Syria, Lebanon and the wider regional order that surrounded them.”
The Khaddam Memoirs will be available from 31 August 2026 in selected stores, Amazon, Apple Books and Google Books.