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Kanaan not regarded as suspect says nyt { October 13 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/international/middleeast/13syria.html?pagewanted=printhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/international/middleeast/13syria.html?pagewanted=print
October 13, 2005
A Leading Syrian Minister Dies, Apparently a Suicide
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 12 - Ghazi Kanaan, Syria's powerful interior minister and the Syrian government's key man in Lebanon for two decades, was found dead, apparently a suicide, in his Damascus office on Wednesday, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported.
The death of Mr. Kanaan, who was head of military intelligence in Lebanon until 2002, added an ominous twist to the continuing United Nations investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
Mr. Kanaan, 63, was one of several figures interrogated by a United Nations investigator last month about the killing of Mr. Hariri and 21 others in Beirut in February, deaths that many Lebanese, as well as members of the Bush administration, believe was the work of Syrian officials. A preliminary report of the investigation is due out this month.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in Mr. Hariri's death, said in an interview on CNN taped Wednesday morning before Mr. Kanaan's death was announced that if any members of his government were implicated in the Hariri killing, "they should be punished."
"If it's not internationally, they will be punished in Syria," he said. "This is treason."
The SANA report of Mr. Kanaan's death gave no details, but an aide to Mr. Kanaan told reporters on Wednesday evening that Mr. Kanaan had shot himself in the mouth.
Two officials familiar with the international investigation said they had their doubts that Mr. Kanaan's death was a result of suicide.
"We are not really surprised that something like this had happened," said one of the officials. "But we are only surprised by who it was." Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
But an American official in Washington, also requesting anonymity, said: "From what I've seen, there is no indication that it was not suicide. But deaths of this kind are bound to be manipulated to the high heavens."
Mr. Kanaan was visibly under strain in recent months, as international pressure bore down on him and the government after Mr. Hariri's killing. In an interview with Voice of Lebanon radio on Wednesday morning, just hours before his death, he sounded emotional.
"I want to make clear that our relation with our brothers in Lebanon was based on love and mutual respect," he said, his voice cracking at times. "We have served Lebanon's interest with honor and honesty."
Then, just before concluding, he added tersely, "I think this is the last statement I will give."
The most immediate impact of Mr. Kanaan's death is likely to be on the United Nations investigation led by Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor. He is expected to present a preliminary report to the Security Council on Oct. 25, but has also been asked to continue working through mid-December.
After months of foot-dragging and growing isolation, the Syrian government allowed Mr. Mehlis to question Mr. Kanaan and other Syrian officials in September, bringing the lingering controversy over the assassination to the heart of the government. Mr. Mehlis and his investigators spent several days interrogating Syrian security officials in a resort near the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Speculation continues in both Lebanon and Syria over whether Mr. Mehlis will name any senior Syrian figures in connection with Mr. Hariri's death or present clear evidence of Syria's complicity. Officials familiar with the work of the investigation said Mr. Kanaan had been interrogated only as a witness and was not regarded as a suspect in the investigation.
The killing of Mr. Hariri set off mass protests that helped force Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. It also helped sweep an electoral alliance led by Saad Hariri, Mr. Hariri's son, and the Druse chieftain Walid Jumblatt into the new Lebanese Parliament with 72 of the 128 seats.
In the months since the assassination, a string of bombings in Beirut suburbs has rattled nerves and raised fears of an orchestrated campaign to assassinate opponents of Syria.
In Syria, too, a series of crackdowns and efforts by Mr. Assad to consolidate his grip on power have cast a pall over life in Damascus. Most recently, the police staged a manhunt for Anwar al-Bunni, a prominent lawyer and opposition figure who disappeared after he was accused of assault in an incident in which he is said to have shoved a former client who was demanding her money back. By Wednesday, Mr. Bunni had been a fugitive for three days.
Mr. Kanaan's death has sent further ripples through Syria. He was considered one of the most powerful men behind Mr. Assad and his brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat. He came from a prominent family belonging to Syria's ruling Alawite sect, and was one of the "old guard" leaders on the coattails of Mr. Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad.
Mr. Kanaan became a close aide to Hafez al-Assad during the 1970's, and rose through the ranks of Syria's intelligence apparatus. He served as commander of Syria's military intelligence service in Lebanon until 2002, acting as the paramount power broker in the country with final say in everything from political appointments to security details.
He became director of political intelligence in 2002 and joined Syria's cabinet as interior minister last year.
"Mr. Kanaan had a very well-known and respected history and an important role in the Syrian-Lebanese relationship," said Syria's minister of information, Mahdi Dakhlalah. "This is a tragedy for Syria."
Syria analysts say Mr. Kanaan's appointment as interior minister was linked to efforts by Mr. Assad to push through reforms and bring Syria's various security services under control. "He had credibility with the old guard but appeared prepared to let things move forward" for reform projects, said Flynt Leverett, senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and author of a book on Syria. "But it seems Mr. Kanaan's past in Lebanon had caught up with him. He may have seen no other way out."
But if there was foul play in his death, it may have had more to do with internal power struggles than with the United Nations investigation, said Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Oklahoma who is now conducting research in Damascus.
"The language in Washington recently has been about increasing pressure on Syria and seeing who will step up to replace Assad," Mr. Landis said. "Kanaan was seen as being more pro-American. Bashar's strongest suit is if he can show that there's no alternative to him."
Katherine Zoepf contributed reporting fromDamascus, Syria; Souad Mekhennet from Frankfurt; and Douglas Jehl from Washington.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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