BEIRUT, Feb 8: Former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam and the exiled leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood agreed on Wednesday to join forces to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

A source at Mr Khaddam’s office said the former official held talks with Ali Bayanouni, head of the Brotherhood, in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“There was agreement on a joint vision to save Syria from the crisis that the regime has placed it in,” the source said in Beirut. “It was also agreed to contact other opposition leaders inside and outside Syria to come up with a joint plan of action.”

The source said the two leaders also rejected any foreign intervention in Syria: “The responsibility of changing the corrupt regime in Syria lies only on the Syrian people.”

Mr Bayanouni confirmed the meetings in a telephone interview with the Arabic television station Al Jazeera.

“The most important aspect we agreed upon in our last meeting is the need to work with other national powers and hold meetings with them ... to agree a formula for cooperation amongst us,” Mr Bayanouni said.

Mr Khaddam was for 30 years a political ally of Mr Assad’s late father, president Hafez al Assad. Now he is promoting a detailed ‘national action programme’ that calls for a transitional government in Syria to take the country from the totalitarian regime to a democratically elected parliament that appoints a government.—Reuters