Kanaan death renew accusation to Damascus of assassinating Hariri

Israel had made use of the suicide incident of the Syrian minister of interior Ghazi Kanaan to renew accusations against Damascus in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri which is being investigated by a UN team which had already questioned Kanaan

The Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom told the Israeli general radio that there are great fears that Ghazi Kanaan was "used as a victim" to cover Syria's involvement in the assassination of al-Hariri.

He said that the Syrians feel that the string tightened around their neck before the publication of the report of the UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, noting that Syria seems to have link to the assassination operation and is trying to hide it."

For his part, the chairman of the defense committees for democratic freedoms and human rights in Syria Aktham Nueiseh said that the death of Kanaan may mark the beginning of change in the strong internal circle of President Bashar al-Assad. He said he expects the Mehlis report to disclose the involvement of senior Syrian officials in the assassination of al-Hariri.