The Syrian interior minister has apparently committed suicide:
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – Syria’s interior minister, who ran Lebanon for many years and was one of several top officials caught up in the U.N. probe of the slaying of that nation’s former prime minister, died Wednesday. The country’s official news agency said he committed suicide in his office.
The death of Brig. Gen. Ghazi Kenaan – just days before the final U.N. investigation report is due – was a new and startling sign of turmoil in Syria, whose authoritarian regime is girding for the chance that the U.N. report might implicate high-ranking officials in the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. He was killed by a bomb in February as his convoy drove through Beirut.
“Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Ghazi Kenaan committed suicide in his office before noon,” the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah told Al-Arabiya TV the death would not affect political stability in Syria. He said the “painful incident” was under investigation.
There’s been a lot of speculation about the possible involvement of Kenaan with the Hariri assassination.
Praktike conjectures that he was either involved in the assassination or informed about it.
Abu Aardvark say that the primary guesses are:
- Suicide
- Scapegoat
- Shut-up
- He was plotting a coup.
- Other
Across the Bay observes:
I’ve had a feeling this was going to happen for quite some time now. Syria’s Ghazi Kanaan “committed suicide” in his office this morning. For those of you who don’t know what “committed suicide” means in Syria, it means someone committed it for him. It was “assisted” so to speak. Lots of these “suicides” took place when Bashar came to power, when all of a sudden, all his possible rivals all “committed suicide,” some even managing several shots, and some “shooting themselves” in the back of the head.
He’s been updating with further observations and links.
But the comment of the day has come from The Angy Arab News Service (one of my daily stops):
Now is this like Abu Nidal’s “suicide” in Iraq under Saddam’s regime, when he shot himself with an AK-47 15 times? At the time, Abu Nidal kept shooting himself all over his body until the Iraqi mukhabarat people in the room had to tell him: “Abu Nidal. Stop shooting yourself. You already are dead. Officially dead.” Only then, did Abu Nidal stop shooting. Abu Nidal then moved his own body to the bedroom of the apartment. It was not known at the time whether Abu Nidal also buried his own body.
Athena has an excellent round-up of links.
The Jawa Report has additional observations and links.
I take it that they have already determined that he was not shot while trying to escape.