CAIRO, Dec. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria's ex-vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam on Friday denounced the government of President Bashar al-Assad, saying Assad threatened Rafiq Hariri just several months before the former Lebanese premier was assassinated in a bomb blast in Beirut.

    Khaddam, who is now in Paris with his family, made the denunciation in an interview with Dubai-based television Al-
Arabiya, which quoted him as revealing that Assad told Hariri during a meeting in Damascus that "I will destroy anyone who tries to hinder our decisions."

    "Hariri received many threats" and "Assad told me he had delivered some very, very harsh words to Hariri," Khaddam added.

    A U.N. probe into Hariri's killing has implicated senior Syrian officials involved in the assassination case. Enditem