More benefit of the war in Iraq. This would never have happened without it.
Syria: Minister commits suicide
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Posted: 8:27 a.m. EDT (12:27 GMT)
Kanaan, left, and Al-Assad in this 1999 file photo
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DAMASCUS, Syria (CNN) -- Syria's interior minister, who was head of the country's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon for nearly 20 years, has committed suicide, according to Syrian ministers and the country's official news agency.
Ghazi Kanaan's death was reported Wednesday, days before the expected release of a United Nations report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"The minister of interior died in his office this afternoon after committing suicide and the authorities are investigating the incident," Reuters quoted SANA the Syrian Arab News Agency as saying.
The 63-year-old Baathist major general suffered apparent gunshot wounds and was later pronounced dead at a Damascus hospital, officials said.
Hours before his death, he had been interviewed by a Lebanese radio station after he called to refute allegations that he accepted bribes and payoffs while in the Lebanon post.
"I think this is the last statement I might give," Kanaan said at the end of the phone interview with Voice of Lebanon, Reuters said.
Kanaan was among those interviewed as witnesses by a German prosecutor heading the U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing -- a prominent opponent of Syria's presence in Lebanon.
Many Lebanese said Syria ordered the car bombing that killed Hariri in February 2005 but Damascus has repeatedly denied any links.
The assassination sparked a wave of protests in Beirut that helped lead to Syria's announced withdrawal from the country in April.
Four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals have been arrested and charged in connection with Hariri's murder. (Full story)
A report from the U.N. inquiry is expected to be released within the next 10 days.
Just before news of Kanaan's death, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview that Syria had no involvement in Hariri's death, and it was impossible for him to have ordered it.
But, he said, if the U.N. probe concluded that Syrians were involved, then they would be regarded as traitors and should be charged with treason and face punishment, either through the Syrian judicial process or by an international court.
Kanaan was the head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon from 1982 till 2002. He was appointed interior minister in 2004.
In July, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said it had frozen Kanaan's U.S. assets, alleging he was involved in Syria's military and security presence in Lebanon.
CNN's Brent Sadler said Al-Assad's government was extremely shaken by the Kanaan's death. "Officials were incredulous at the news. He was the lynchpin of the Syrian security apparatus for more than two decades, and was an important right-man both for the current president and his father, Hafez Assad."
cnn.com |
