Syrian Minister Commits Suicide

CNN News:

Syria's interior minister, who was head of the country's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon for nearly 20 years, has committed suicide, officials said.

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, a prominent opponent of Syria's presence in Lebanon.

The 63-year-old Baathist major general died in a Damascus hospital of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the interior ministry and other government ministers. READ MORE

The head of the intensive care unit at the hospital told CNN's Brent Sadler a small-caliber bullet went through the roof of Kanaan's mouth and exited through the back of his head.

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.

An important political figure in Syria for more than 35 years, Kanaan was one of the most senior government officials to be interviewed by a German prosecutor heading the U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing.

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. probe is expected to be released within the next 10 days, and while it will mainly deal with the assassination itself, it is also expected to address the millions of dollars alleged to have changed hands in the corruption scandal.

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."

Suicide? Sure.