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"Suicide" of Syrian General Who Ruled Lebanon

(Times-UK) Nicholas Blanford - The Syrian general who, in effect, ran Lebanon for 20 years was found dead in Damascus Wednesday, nine days before the release of a potentially explosive UN report that could implicate senior Syrian officials in the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. The Syrian government said that Ghazi Kanaan, 63, the interior minister and former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, had committed suicide in his office in central Damascus. General Kanaan was a powerful figure from the Alawite community that forms the backbone of the Baathist regime in Syria. Some analysts believe that he was a potential candidate to replace the youthful President Assad. "Washington has been talking about the adults taking over from the children, and Kanaan was one of the last of the so-called 'old guard.' He was considered a real force," Joshua Landis, a professor of history based in Damascus, said. "It's hard to believe Kanaan would commit suicide." On Tuesday, the Lebanese New TV channel broadcast allegations that General Kanaan had admitted to UN investigator Mehlis that he had amassed millions of dollars during his "reign in Lebanon."
2005-10-14 00:00:00
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