Convenient Suicide

Times UK:

The Syrian Interior Minister has apparently killed himself in his Damascus office, days before a UN report on the assassination of a senior Lebanese politician.

Ghazi Kanaan, 63, was the head of Syria's military intelligence in Lebanon between 1982 and 2003 and had enormous influence over the running of Syria's small neighbouring country. He was promoted to the job of Interior Minister a year ago.

His death comes not long after a UN team investigating the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, interviewed Kanaan and a number of Syrian figures. The UN report is due out in two weeks' time.

The car bombing of Hariri in Beirut on February 14 led to a popular uprising in Lebanon, nicknamed the Cedar Revolution, as many Lebanese protested about Syria's stranglehold over its internal politics.

Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was an opponent of the extent of Syrian influence in government. Thanks to the protests and international pressure, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April for the first time since the end of the civil war.

Hours before he died, Kenaan contacted a Lebanese radio station and gave it a statement defending Syria's role in the Lebanon. He ended with the words: "I believe this is the last statement that I could make." He asked the interviewer to pass his comments to other broadcast media.

Syria and its allies in Lebanon have been blamed by many for masterminding the Hariri murder, something Damascus has denied.

In June, the US Government froze KanaanÂ’s assets for his alleged involvement in corruption and support for terrorism.

via The Jawa Report

It seems no one is really buying the "suicide" story. Geeze. Sometimes I feel like we are all just watching a really long James Bond movie.