Source: Assad military advisor and HA liason officer assassinaited.

[Les Taire]

Sources: Assad adviser assassinated.
Aug. 2nd, 2008
AL Bawaba.com

Well known sources informed Albawaba that General Mohammed Suleiman, an adviser to Syrian president Bashar al Assad, was assassinated on Friday. Suleiman also served as Syria's liaison officer to Lebanon's Hizbullah movement.

According to the sources, Suleiman was shot dead by a sniper in the Syrian port city of Tartous. They added the funeral service will be held on Sunday in Suleiman's home-town of Driekesh which is located less than 20 kilometers away from Tartous.

The sources told Albawaba the Syrian authorities have been making huge efforts to prevent the publication of the news regarding Suleiman's killing. It should be mentioned that on February 13, 2008 Imad Moughniyeh, the militay commander of Hizbullah, was assassinated in Damascus.

[Hye4Lebanon]

Syria's liaison officer to Hizbullah assassinated

Mohammed Suleiman, a senior advisor to Syrian President Bashar Assad, was assassinated over the weekend, Arab website Albawaba reported Saturday.

Suleiman also served as Syria's liaison officer to Lebanon's Hizbullah movement.

According to the report, Suleiman was shot dead by a sniper in the Syrian port city of Tartous. The assassin's identity is unknown.

It was also reported that the officer's death was not reported in Damascus, and that it appears the Syrian authorities are exerting efforts not to bring the affair to the public's attention.

The London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported that a senior army officer close to Assad was killed Friday night. The report did not name the officer, but said he was responsible for a series of sensitive matters.

About half a year ago, the Lebanese organization's operations officer Imad Mugniyah, another key figure operating on the Syria-Hizbullah axis, was assassinated in Damascus a mysterious blast in his car.

Media outlets across the world linked Israel to the assassination, although Mugniyah had several "unsettled accounts" with quite a few elements worldwide.

Over the weekend, the man responsible for southern Lebanon on behalf of Hizbullah warned that his organization was "stronger than ever and ready to confront Israel." Nabil Kaouk spoke of the relations between Hizbullah and Iran, stressing that the option for a war against Israel remains opens.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned during a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York last week that "Hizbullah's armament may undermine the delicate balance in Lebanon." He added that "Israel views this as a real and serious danger."

YnetNews

[Hye4Lebanon]

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian officials attended the funeral on Sunday of a senior security officer whose killing has shaken the tightly controlled country.

Brigadier General Mohammad Suleiman, 49, was killed on Saturday at a beach resort near the port city of Tartous, residents said. It was the first known assassination in Syria since the killing of Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyah in Damascus in February.

Syria has been ruled by the Baath party since it took power in a coup in 1963 and banned all opposition. The security apparatus is key to Syria's support of the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, and exercises enormous influence on government.

A Syrian opposition Web site said Suleiman, a confidant of President Bashar al-Assad, had been shot in the head in his seaside villa. Another site said the shots had been fired by a sniper from a boat. The resort was cordoned off for hours and local media did not report the killing.

Assad was visiting Iran on Saturday. His brother Maher al-Assad, head of the Republican Guards, and other senior officers were at Suleiman's funeral in the town of Dreikish, east of Tartous, sources said.

The presence of Maher al-Assad, one of the most powerful figures in Syria, indicated Suleiman's pivotal role in the Syrian hierarchy and the high regard he enjoyed among members of the ruling class.

The sources said Suleiman was also involved in efforts to upgrade Syria's military readiness. Bashar al-Assad said in a letter to the army this week that Syria must not shy away from improving its arsenal.

"This is earth-shattering. Since when do we hear of assassinations taking place like this in Syria? Suleiman was privy to many things," one of the sources told Reuters
Israeli media said Suleiman was a key figure in an alleged nuclear program that the United States accused Syria of pursuing after Israel raided a site in eastern Syria last year.

There was no comment from the Syrian authorities, who pride themselves on maintaining stability in the country of 19 million people.

Their reputation for control has been challenged in the last two years by a series of violent events.

Scores were killed and injured last month in violence at a prison run by the military, and a car bomb killed Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyah in a district of Damascus swarming with security on February 14.

The Damascus government, which is engaged in indirect peace talks with Israel, had hinted that the Jewish state was behind the attack and said it would swiftly present "irrefutable" proof of who was behind the assassination.

But no results of an official investigation the authorities said they were conducting were revealed.

The talks with Israel started several months after Israeli planes raided the military target in eastern Syria in September. The United States, Israel's chief ally, said the site was a nuclear complex under construction.

Syria denied it was building an illegal nuclear facility.

Reuters

[Hye4Lebanon]

Syrian source says regime in bad condition

Mohammed Suleiman was stronger than Syria's defense minister, a Syrian source said Monday of the assassinated officer who was considered President Bashar Assad's right hand.

The source told the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat that "there is no doubt the Syrian regime in a bad and complicated condition."

Suleiman, who held a rank similar to that of brigadier-general, was shot dead by a sniper in the Syrian port city of Tartous. The assassination of the officer who operated on the Syrian-Lebanese arena was barely reported by Arab media.

According to the source, before becoming the president's "mystery man", Suleiman was very close to Bashar Assad's brother, Bassel, who was slated to become Syria's president but was killed in a road accident in 1994.

Suleiman, a member of the Alawites sect, was responsible for all of Syria's sensitive security issues, and every such issue would be run through him before reaching Assad's bureau.

The Syrian source ruled out the possibility that Suleiman was assassinated on the backdrop of political aspirations, due to the fact that he had more strength than any other politician.

According to the source, Suleiman was responsible for more issues than the Syrian defense minister and army chief. Various reports have claimed that Suleiman was in charge of the Syrian nuclear program.


'He knew everything'

"There is no doubt that the Syrian regime is in a bad and complex situation. There is no doubt that Muhammed Suleiman was one of the closest people to President Bashar Assad and his right hand in the armed forces.

"He knew everything, and all issues were open to him, including the security, economic and armament issues," the source stated.

"Suleiman's status exceeded his military rank, and therefore he had no political aspirations. His status was even more important than that of the defense minister.

"In the meantime, however, it is hard to determine the reasons behind the assassination. We must wait three or four more days for things to become clear, particularly when we are talking about an accurate assassination which was carried out by a sniper firing from the sea."

The Syrian source did not say whether Suleiman, who was in his 40s, had direct ties to Hizbullah.

"He was responsible for all the issues related to the armed forces and the Baath party (the Syrian ruling party). All the reports regarding the Baath party released by the Syrian army went through his office and were presented to Assad by him," the source noted.

YnetNews

[Hye4Lebanon]

Senior Syrian officer slain

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A sniper assassinated a senior Syrian general close to President Bashar Assad, according to reports Monday in a Saudi paper and Web sites for a Syrian opposition figure and a reform-minded member of Syria's ruling party.

A sniper on a yacht killed Brig. Gen. Mohammed Suleiman at a beach resort in the northern port city of Tartous, said the Web site of an exiled Syrian dissident, Abdul-Halim Khaddam. The site said the general handled intelligence files and was a close Assad associate.

Another Web site, run by a reform-minded member of Assad's ruling Baath Party, Ayman Abdul-Nour, said the senior officer was shot Friday night. The site said Suleiman was shot to death at his beach house.

There was no confirmation by officials in Syria, which restricts its media and rarely comments on security matters.

The pan Arab Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat daily — which is on the stands in most Arab Mideast countries but not in Syria — quoted unnamed Syrian sources as saying Suleiman was shot and that he was Assad's "right hand" man and top security adviser.

The paper said in a front-page report Monday that Suleiman was shot by a sniper with four bullets that came from direction of the sea. Asharq al-Awsat is criticial of Assad's government and Syrian-Saudi relations have been cold for nearly two years.

The Jordan-based news Web site Al-Bawaba, said he served as Syria's "liaison officer" with the Lebanese militant Hezbollah movement.

Assassinations are rare in Syria and Suleiman's killing would be the first since Hezbollah military commander Imad Moughniyah was assassinated by a car bomb in Damascus in February. The Lebanese militant group accused Israel in that assassination, but the results of the Syrian investigation have not been disclosed.

A funeral service was held on Sunday in Suleiman's home-town of Driekesh a few miles away from Tartous, according to the Web sites reports.

Associated Press

[Hye4Lebanon]

Top Syria official 'assassinated'
Mohammed Suleiman was said to be close to President Bashar al-Assad
A senior military official close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been assassinated, according to Arab media reports.

The official, identified as Brig Gen Mohammed Suleiman, was shot dead on Friday night at a beach resort near the port city of Tartus, the reports say.

Damascus has so far refused to comment on the alleged shooting.

The Free Syria website, which opposes the Syrian government, described him as President Assad's top security adviser.

Pan-Arab newspapers al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat say Mr Suleiman had responsibility for sensitive security issues.

Mr Suleiman was also reported to serve as Syria's liaison officer to Hezbollah - a powerful political and military organisation of Shia Muslims in Lebanon.

Report details

The circumstances of the alleged shooting remain unclear.

The first report of Mr Suleiman's death appeared on Saturday on the Arab website al-Bawaba, which said he had been killed by a seaborne sniper.

Another website, run by a member of President Assad's ruling Baath Party, Ayman Abdul Nour, said Mr Suleiman was shot on Friday night at his beach house.

A sniper on a yacht was behind the attack, according to the website of former regime figure and now exiled dissident Abdul Halim Khaddam.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper offered more detail saying he was shot with four bullets.

According to the website reports, a funeral service was held for Mr Suleiman on Sunday in his hometown of Duraykish, close to Tartus.

It is the first assassination in Syria since February, when Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a car bomb explosion in the capital, Damascus.

BBC

[Hye4Lebanon]

Al Arabiya TV - "he had something to do with R. Hariri murder"

[fidelio]

Originally Posted by Hye4Lebanon

Al Arabiya TV - "he had something to do with R. Hariri murder"

Oh forget Fitzgerald, Mehlis and Brammertz. The investigation should have been assigned to fares Khashan, Hani Hammoud and Al-Arabiya.

[Neo_Con]

Good. Let's hope Israel finally grew some balls and was the one behind this assassination. I'm not really buying the whole Iran/Hezbollah killed him. It's either Israel or Syria. Maybe he was killed by the Mossad or "suicided" by the Syrians.