SYRIA: The Syrian government was severely shaken yesterday when its powerful interior minister Ghazi Kanaan was found dead in his office at noon, having apparently committed suicide.
Gen Kanaan (63) was a senior military officer, a key member of the ruling Baath Party and an Alawite, the Shia sect which has run the country since 1970.
He served as head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon between 1982 and 2002 and chief of domestic intelligence until his elevation to the cabinet in 2004.
He apparently committed suicide three weeks after being interrogated by UN investigator Det- lev Mehlis who is investigating last February's assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
Many Lebanese claim Damascus was behind his murder, while the US and France hold Syria responsible for creating a climate of tension in Lebanon which led to the killing. Although it denies the charges, Damascus was compelled to withdraw from Lebanon in April.
Mr Mehlis interviewed six other senior Syrian figures, including Gen Kanaan's successor Gen Rustum Ghazala and military intelligence chief Gen Assaf Shawkat, a brother-in-law of president Bashar Assad.
Four Lebanese security chiefs allied to Syria have been arrested and charged in connection with the assassination.
Mr Mehlis has been finalising his report in Cyprus after his headquarters in Lebanon were evacuated due to rising insecurity there.
The report is due to be presented before the end of the month, but this could now be postponed until December.
Shortly before he died, Gen Kanaan contacted a Lebanese radio station to say that his testimony to the UN team was meant to illuminate the era Syria served in Lebanon.
He said the media had misconstrued what he said in order to "mislead public opinion" and denied allegations that he had received money from Mr Hariri. He concluded: "I believe this is the last statement that I will make."
He died as the US stepped up pressure on Syria to end its support for Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and halt alleged cross-border infiltration by Muslim militants into Iraq.
While the US has initiated contacts with exiled Syrian opponents of the Assad government, analysts say that the Bush administration seeks to alter Syria's behaviour, rather than effect regime change. But Washington could seize on the general's death as a means to increase the pressure and weaken the regime.