Syrian Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan’s suicide has added a new dimension to the mystery surrounding the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The news of Kanaan’s death was received by people in Syria and Lebanon with shock and disbelief. Some question the official version; others believe a gruesome scenario has been designed and played by Syria’s security organization. Everybody admits that as a high-ranking military official Kanaan was finding it difficult to see his name, his military honor and his country’s reputation being tarnished by linking them to the crime of a political assassination. At the same time Syrian opposition in exile and Syria’s foes in Lebanon think it was a last-minute effort by a desperate regime to avoid further investigation by the UN’s Detlev Mehlis into the Syrian role in Hariri’s assassination last February.
Gen. Kanaan’s last statement, made to Lebanese satellite station New TV two days before his suicide, perplexed viewers and observers as he concluded: “I believe this is the last statement I will ever make.” Did he want to put an end to the so-called character assassination campaign against him and his country orchestrated by the media and anti-Syrian parties in Lebanon? Or was it his farewell message?
The perplexing suicide of Gen. Kanaan comes two days after President Bashar Assad’s interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Assad told Amanpour: “Any Syrian proved to be involved in the crime of the assassination of Rafik Harriri will be dealt with as traitor to Syria and will be prosecuted and punished; Syria has no interest in assassinating Hariri.”
Did Kanaan play a role in Hariri’s assassination? Kanaan’s admirers in Lebanon rule out such a possibility saying that it was not his style. Kanaan was tough but smart and this is admitted by his friends as well as foes. The good-looking and elegantly dressed security officer had very good relations with all the political factions in Lebanon and was perceived as a very close friend of Hariri’s. They say he was a good communicator and a mediator among disputing parties. Yet his role as Syria’s man in Lebanon became controversial four years ago.
Kanaan served in Lebanon for over 20 years. He was late Hafez Assad’s closest and most trusted intelligence officer until he was called in 2002 by young President Bashar Assad to reorganize the Political Security Department and then to become Syria’s interior minister. Syria’s role in Lebanon and that of Kanaan as the head of the Syrian security and intelligence forces in that country became interchangeable and was recognized as inseparable. An expert on Syrian political affairs says that Kanaan’s life experience was all based in and related to Lebanon. Kanaan believed that Lebanon’s liberation from Israel and the country’s national unity would not have been possible without Syria. If Syria did not intervene to rescue Lebanese from their civil war, the unmaking of Lebanon as a state was inevitable. That this did not happen is a great achievement by Syria and Kanaan. The ingratitude of the Lebanese politicians is the reason that drove Kanaan to suicide, according to this analyst. Kanaan felt he was betrayed and backstabbed by many Lebanese politicians who ascended to power with the backing of Syria. Syria invested so much in blood and treasure so that Lebanon could survive the ravages of a civil war. But in an interview with Al-Arabiya satellite station, Gen. Michael Aoun, Syria’s first and oldest foe in Lebanon sarcastically says: “Kanaan defended the Syrian regime until he committed suicide.”
Syria’s adversaries in Lebanon allegedly claim that Kanaan was a symbol of tyranny and corruption.
They allege his men terrorized, kidnapped, killed, tortured and jailed hundreds of innocent Lebanese and he was behind bribing, threatening or influencing Lebanese politicians and members of Parliament. They also claim Kanaan was behind many illegal practices including the smuggling and selling of Lebanese archaeological treasures and old artifacts.
It is acknowledged by most Lebanese that Kanaan was the one person who saved Lebanon from a state of anarchy in 1980s as he made it possible for various Lebanese militias to change into political parties and warlords to become responsible MPs, politicians or businessmen. He made sincere efforts to neutralize Syria’s adversaries and enemies in Lebanese and Palestinian parties. But after three decades Syria and Kanaan realized that much of what they did in Lebanon was to no avail.
As one of the youngest key figures of the old guard who survived Hafez Assad, Kanaan, as interior minister, surprised the media and the people by criticizing the state-run Syrian mass media as “backward and absurd”. In the last two years his star was rising — a relatively speaking young, but politically astute personality with charisma and charm.
One could notice and feel the changes in security procedures he brought about in Syria. He took tough and strict disciplinary measures against employees, staff and officers of his ministry by questioning and arresting many officers who misused authority. Recently a high-ranking officer was imprisoned along with criminals in a correction center because the said officer had assaulted an innocent citizen.
