📰 Beyond the ‘Suicide’ of Ghazi Kanaan: Self-Deliverance or Calculated Purge?

A man of riddles—his expression disclosed little, his presence etched in ritual. Handsome, meticulous in his manner, Ghazi Kanaan greeted guests with a commanding handshake, a poised smile, the soft haze of a cigar, and always a leather-bound notebook in hand—ready to annotate each encounter. His gaze, incisive and unwavering, gave the impression of seeing not just the speaker, but the shadows that trailed behind. Such was the man whose name emerged in a terse communiqué from syria/" class="auto-internal-link">syria’s ministry of Interior on a morning in October 2005: “significant General Ghazi Kanaan has taken his own life in his office at the Ministry of Interior this morning. ” A curt sentence that consigned to silence one of the syrian regime’s most enigmatic and powerful figures—yet failed to stifle the questions that still echo.

In a realm where high-ranking authorities are rarely driven to suicide unless cast from power’s ledger, Kanaan’s death felt less like an act of despair and more like a coded message shrouded in deliberate ambiguity. A suicide—perhaps. But what truly occurred that day? The forensic report cited a single gunshot to the mouth.

Indeed, at damascus/" class="auto-internal-link">damascus’s Shami Hospital—mockingly referred to by political circles as the “sanctuary of silent assassinations”—his son reportedly struck the walls in anguish, shouting: “They murdered him! ” Before the lifeless form of a man whose footsteps once commanded fear, the scene resembled the closing chapter of a book too dangerous to read aloud. The Sealed Envelope Prior to this supposed “suicide”—or “execution,” as some murmur in the margins—Kanaan, as per sources who spoke to Al-Modon, received in his office a sealed envelope, hand-delivered on behalf of the “deposed leader” himself. It contained classified documents: communications and records of secret meetings outlining a coup Kanaan had allegedly plotted against leader Bashar al-Assad. The conspiracy was reportedly coordinated with a senior American intelligence officer stationed in Cairo at the time, in collaboration with Lieutenant General Hikmat al-Shihabi, former Chief of Staff of the Syrian Army, and Abdel Halim Khaddam, the former Vice President who would later defect.

Shortly after, Assef Shawkat—the President’s brother-in-law and head of armed forces Intelligence—arrived at the Ministry of Interior, as per eyewitnesses within the compound. Immediately following this meeting, Kanaan placed his final phone call to Lebanon’s Voice of Lebanon radio. His words: “This may be my last statement. ” Then, calmly: “I wanted to affirm that the accusations against me are baseless… This is for…