Speculation Surrounds Murder of General

The assassination of a high-ranking Syrian military official has attracted the attention of many opposition websites, as well as Arab and international media.



General Muhammad Suleiman was assassinated in the northern seaside resort of Tartus on August 1.



After the killing had been given wide coverage abroad, the Syrian government confirmed that it had happened in a statement issued on August 6 issued by presidential adviser Buthaina Shaban.



Shaban said an investigation was under way but provided no additional details.



The assassination was not covered by the mainstream government media.



Different accounts of the circumstances of the killing have emerged. Arab media reported that Suleiman was killed by a sniper while he was on a yacht in Tartus. The opposition website Levant News, which is sympathetic to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, reported on August 4 that the general was killed in a beach cabin at a seaside resort.



The pro-government website All4Syria, which is published by Baath party member Ayman Abdel Nour, reported on August 3 that security swarmed the area following Suleiman’s assassination. All4Syria reported that Suleiman was killed by a shot in the neck by a gunman using a silencer.



According to the opposition website Free Syria, published by dissident former vice president Abdulhalim Khaddam, Suleiman was responsible for security in the presidential palace, and wielded a lot of power, issuing orders to the defence minister, approving all arrests, and intervening in the appointments of ministers and governors.



The website said Suleiman was not on good terms with Syrian intelligence chief Asef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law. In June, the German newspaper Die Welt reported that Suleiman had attempted a coup against President Assad earlier this year.



Free Syria suggested that Suleiman’s assassination was a sign there was conflict among Baathist leaders, and argued that recent killings in Lebanon and Syria were connected with the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005. Syria has been implicated in that killing.



Levant News said the attack bore similarities to the killing of former interior minister Ghazi Kanan, who died in his office of a gunshot wound in 2005. The Syrian government concluded that Kanan, whom the United Nations had interviewed in the course of the Hariri investigation, had committed suicide.



Suleiman was buried in his home city of Drekish on August 2, in a funeral attended by many officials including Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother, All4Syria reported.