Syrian Interior Minister commits suicide
Middle East Desk Report

DAMASCUS—Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan committed suicide in his office on Wednesday, the state news agency said, three weeks after being questioned by a U.N. team probing the assassination of Lebanon’s Rafik al-Hariri. The U.N.’s chief investigator is expected to issue his report to the Security Council next week on the inquiry into the February killing of the former Lebanese Prime Minister. Syria, already under pressure from the United States over Iraq, has increasingly felt the weight of Lebanese and international charges it was linked to Hariri’s death. Syrian officials have said in recent weeks the U.N. report would show Damascus had nothing to do with the killing. “The minister of interior died in his office this afternoon after committing suicide and the authorities are investigating the incident,” the SANA agency said in a report. The Syrian government issued a statement mourning Kanaan’s death but gave no other details. State radio and television continued normal programming. “Until now, we don’t know the reason (of the suicide) but our investigation will tell us quickly...,” Information Minister Mahdi Dakhl-Allah told Al Jazeera pan-Arab television. “Whatever happens, stability won’t be shattered in Syria. We are one of the most stable countries in the region”.