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PARIS (Reuters) - Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian vice president who became a prominent opponent of President Bashar al-Assad’s rule after fleeing to Paris in 2005, died on Tuesday in France, Salah Ayach, a Syrian exile who was close to him, said. He was 88.

Khaddam died at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) of a heart attack, Ayach said. Khaddam had served for 30 years in the Syrian state under the late President Hafez al-Assad and his son, Bashar, who became president in 2000.