Al-Assad relieves Syrian intelligence chief

Syrian informed sources confirmed to ArabicNews.com that Syrian President Hafez al-Assad discharged last week General Bashir al-Najjar due to his failure in operations he undertook outside Damascus and for breaches he has commited.

The source said President al-Assad discharged him after he committed breaches that were denounced by the Syrian leadership because al-Najjar's actions damaged the government's reputation.

While other sources confirmed the dismissal, they said that the reasons was due to a strong rumor which said that three ministers in the current government were caught in a famous dancer's house and that a videotape was recorded of the ministers' relations with the dancer. The rumor said that general al-Najjar was the one who recorded the tape, after which the tape was leaked to the public.

The sources said al-Najjar's reason for leaking this tape is the existence of old disputes between him and Minister of Finance Khaled al-Mahayni, who was included in the tape.