MERIP Media Resource List, October 13, 2005

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topic:
- Death of Syrian interior minister, Ghazi Kanaan

[Kanaan was Syria's top official in Lebanon for two decades until 2002.]

BASSAM HADDAD
Bassam Haddad teaches political science at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and is author of "Syria's Curious Dilemma," Middle East Report 236, "Inside Syria and Lebanon," Fall 2005. Haddad commented today: "However one looks at Ghazi Kanaan's death it will inevitably weaken the regime, even if it tries to use it as an exit strategy vis-à-vis Hariri's assassination. The 'suicide' of Kanaan is an unprecedented event at this level of the government and breaks a taboo -- Kanaan was a very powerful cornerstone of the regime. As such this is not the same as the 'suicide' of former prime minister Mahmoud al-Zu'bi in 1999."

VOLKER PERTHES
Volker Perthes is director of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin. The SWP advises the German parliament and government on international affairs. He is also the editor of Arab Elites: Negotiating the Politics of Change (Lynne Rienner, 2004). His op-ed "Syria: It's All Over, But It Could Be Messy," appeared in the International Herald Tribune on October 5. Perthes commented today: " The suicide of Gen. Kanaan may be an attempt by the regime to save the necks of others in its higher ranks who might be implicated in the Hariri assassination. It may also be a facet of a painful process of regime demise."

Background :

+ Bassam Haddad, "Syria's Curious Dilemma," Middle East Report 236, "Inside Syria and Lebanon," Fall 2005.

-------------
Members of the media should feel free to contact the individuals listed above directly.
 
For more information, contact Michelle Woodward, MERIP Media Coordinator, at (202) 223-3677 or at mwoodward@merip.org. Media Resource Lists are an initiative of the MERIP Media Outreach Program. Past releases are archived in the MERIP Press Room at http://www.merip.org/press_room/pr.html  
 
Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), 1500 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 119, Washington, DC 20005, Tel: (202) 223 3677, Fax: (202) 223 3604, http://www.merip.org

-------------

Return to archive index

For more information, contact Michelle Woodward, MERIP Media Coordinator, at (202) 223-3677, or merip.media@merip.org.  Media Resource Lists are an initiative of the MERIP Media Outreach Program.

The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), 1500 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 119, Washington, DC 20005, Tel: (202) 223 3677, Fax: (202) 223 3604, www.merip.org