Khaddam says military intelligence chief to meet Kanaan’s fate
Former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam said that President Bashar Al-Assad issued a resolution forbidding the travel of the president’s brother-in-law and chief of military intelligence Asif Shawkat.
In an interview with AKI, Khaddam said that Shawkat had disappeared, adding that he expected the latter would meet the same fate as Ghazi Kanaan, the former Syrian Interior Minister and head of the Syrian intelligence in Lebanon who Syrian authorities said committed suicide in his Damascus office three years ago.
In response to the “criminal network” behind the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri identified by Daniel Bellemare, Khaddam said it was clear that Bellemare was referring to the party accused by the Lebanese.
“In any event, the report is only a summary. I believe the Prosecutor General will reveal all names in the international tribunal,” Khaddam continued, “which justifies panic in the Syrian regime.”
“When talking about the situation in Lebanon, the opposition says it wants participation in power, although it was originally a partner in the government,” Khaddam added. “However, when the international tribunal was underway and was submitted to the Lebanese government for approval, Amal and Hezbollah ministers resigned, despite being partners in governance.”
Khaddam said he believed that the Arab countries which conceded low-level representation at the Arab Summit last weekend in Damascus, particularly Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen, would do their utmost to reach a solution to the Lebanese crisis.