THE death of Ghazi Kanaan, Syria’s former security supremo in Lebanon and then his country’s interior minister, raises many disturbing questions. The Syrian authorities say they believe that the death was suicide. However the sheer timing of Kanaan’s demise, just days before the release of a UN report into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri must raise doubts.

Though Kanaan was reportedly relaxed at this week’s Cabinet meeting, in his final hours he seems to have behaved very strangely. He allegedly telephoned a local radio station to give what he described as his “last message”. This was to the effect that he was proud of what Syrian intervention in Lebanon had achieved for that strife-torn country. A few hours later it appears that he returned to his office, put a silenced pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

There will be those tempted to believe that the silencer was symbolic. Kanaan’s death silences a man who has long been a pillar of the regime and ran security in Lebanon for 20 years.

Until the UN report is published, it will not be possible to know whether or not, as is being alleged, Kanaan told investigators about corruption within the Syrian regime. If true, then the prime witness to these allegations is now dead.

It is of course possible that when he recently had a meeting in Damascus with a member of the UN inquiry team, he was given a preview of the conclusions and felt fatally compromised. Yet those who knew the urbane and assured former security chief would not have imagined that he would have been so fazed by what could easily be characterized as a highly partial report driven by Washington.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, speaking yesterday to CNN before Kanaan’s death was announced, denied any involvement by his country in Hariri’s assassination. He then added that if the UN had credible evidence that any Syrians were in fact involved, then his government would take action against them. If it turns out the chief suspect died yesterday, then the task of Syrian investigators has just become immeasurably more difficult.

Conspiracy theories are certain to abound. If Kanaan was indeed responsible for Hariri’s slaying, then this action destroyed overnight the influence that Syria had worked so long and so hard to establish in Lebanon. If the UN report established his guilt, then maybe Kanaan was only trying to cheat a would-be executioner.

Syria now readies itself for the findings of the UN report. The government is clearly anxious to preserve stability. There is talk of damage limitation preparations to head off any anger from the Americans and a tightening of economic and political sanctions. Maybe one such preparation was the serving up of Ghazi Kanaan as the scapegoat. In such circumstances the old Syrian intelligence chief decided to outfox his enemies and silence himself with a silenced pistol.