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Ghazi Kanaan

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Ghazi Kanaan (1942 – 12 October 2005) (Arabic: غازي كنعان; transliterations vary) was Syria's Interior Minister from 2004 to 2005, and long-time head of Syria's security apparatus in Lebanon. His violent death during an investigation into the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri drew international attention.

Background

Ghazi Kanaan was born in 1942 in Bhamra, near Qardaha, the home town of former Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad. This region, centered on the coastal town of Lattakia, is in heartland Syria's Alawite minority, of which both men were part. He entered the military and commanded a tank battalion against Israeli forces in the 1973 October War.

As a result of his success and extreme intelligence,He advanced quickly through the ranks of the military, and was given the post of director of intelligence in of Central SyriaHoms. In 1982, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, parts of which were already under Syrian military domination, he was assigned to head the Syrian intelligence there. He remained the head of Syrian security in the country for 20 years, effectively ruling his Lebanese proxies through a web of agents and loyalist bureaucrats, backed by the Syrian military presence. During this time, he gained a decisive Syrian influence over Lebanese affairs, and gradually subdued the warring Lebanese militias through a combination of diplomacy, bribery and force. After Israel's withdrawal from its occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, Kanaan extended Syria's influence there, and backed the Hezbollah movement's takeover of the area.

After being an early backer of Syrian president Bashar al-Asad as a successor to his father, Kanaan was in 2002 summoned back to Damascus to become the head of Syria's political intelligence, which was viewd by the eyes of many as a "demotion". He was succeeded in Lebanon by Rustum Ghazali. In 2004, after a string of bombings targeting leading Hamas members given sanctuary in Syria, claimed by Syria to have been the work of Israeli intelligence, Kanaan was assigned by president Assad to the cabinet post of interior minister, another "demotion" where he could be fired anytime as by a cabinet reshuffle. On the internal Syrian political scene, Kanaan was considered close to the president, although at the same time part of the "old guard" of Syrian politics.

On June 30th 2005, the United States, which had been pressuring Syria over the Hariri bombing and to end Syrian occupation, declared that it would freeze all assets belonging to Kanaan and Ghazali, due to their involvement with the occupation of Lebanon, and also due to suspicions of "corrupt activities".

Death in October 2005

Kanaan died in his office, by a gunshot through the mouth, in Damascus on October 12 2005. After a one-day examination, Syrian authorities closed the case, Prosecutor Muhammad al-Luaji stating:

"Examination of the body and fingerprints as well as testimony from employees, including senior aide General Walid Abaza, indicated that it was a suicide by gunshot"

It has been suggested he was in fact murdered by the Syrian government, and various theories explaining the possible motives for this have been put forth. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who had been variously allied and hostile to Kanaan during his stay in Lebanon, commented by saying that if Ghazi Kanaan was in fact linked to the Hariri assassination, then he was a "brave man" who "did well, if I may say, by committing suicide".

Kanaan was interviewed in September of 2005 by a United Nations team, as a "witness", probing the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Chief United Nations investigator Detlev Mehlis is expected to submit his report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on October 21. Kanaan however denied any involvement in the assassination, for example in the phone interview he gave to the Lebanese broadcasting station Voice of Lebanon on the day of his death. In that interview he said "I think this is the last statement I might give".

Theories on Kanaan's death and possible involvement in the Hariri bombing

Ali Sadr el-Din Bayanouni, the London-based leader of the banned Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al Jazeera that Kanaan, "indicated that he felt in danger, and this supports rumors that there has been a deal in which the Syrian regime might sacrifice some of its heads for saving the regime."

It has been reported that Kanaan opposed Assad's decision in 2004 to extend the term of the pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, siding with then-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri whom he is reported to have had a good relationship with. The term extension provoked the creation of a Lebanese nationalists' camp, whose anti-Syrian protests gained momentum after the murder of al-Hariri in 2005. It was seen as a strategic blunder by many supporters of the Syrian occupation, and is believed to have weakened the president's position. It has been suggested that Kanaan may have been part of such opposition to Assad's rule. Most sources however indicate that he kept the president's trust, and his appointment to interior minister after allegedly having opposed the term extension in 2004 seems to bolster this claim.

Zvi Bar'el in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz has presented a theory involving Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher and other conspirators within the regime wanting to get rid of Kanaan, whom they viewed as too powerful and too close to the president. This could also involve a plot to eventually get rid of Bashar himself, possibly connected to Hafez al-Assad's exiled brother Rifaat al-Assad. While this is only speculation, the article (linked below) presumes that the Mehlis report will not only shed light on the Hariri killing, but also on the internal intrigues of the Syrian ruling elite.

See also

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