Syrian Brigadier-General Muhammad Sulaiman Assassinated by Israeli Agents for Providing Hizbullah with Anti Aircraft Missiles, report

Details of Syrian assassination slowly emerging

Date: 10 / 08 / 2008 Time: 10:14
Bethlehem – Ma'an/Agencies –

Rumours continue to circulate about the mysterious assassination of Syrian Brigadier-General Muhammad Sulaiman, 49-years-old.

The latest information on the incident came Sunday, when several papers reported that Suleiman had been supplying the Lebanese Hizbullah with advanced Syrian SA-8 anti-aircraft missiles. When operated properly the mobile missiles can down aircraft.

Practical implications of Hizbullah - which came close to defeating Israel in the 2006 Lebanon war - having what amounts to anti-aircraft missiles, is that the until now powerful force of Israeli air power could be rendered impotent.

Fingers have thus been pointed, for several reasons, at Israel for the assassination of Sulaiman.

The Brigadier-General was killed on a beach with a single shot to the head. No one heard the shot and evidence has pointed to its source as a moving speedboat passing the northern Syrian port city of Tartus.

The skill necessary to hit a long-range target from a moving watercraft is such that Israeli intelligence agencies were immediately suspected. The recent information about Suleiman and his role in supplying Hizbullah with missiles to target aircraft, further suggests an Israeli role in the matter.
Despite tentative but ongoing negotiations between Syria and Israel on peace in return for the annexed Golan Heights in the north of Israel, Israel had become increasingly discontent with Syrian involvement in Lebanon.

The success of Hizbullah in negotiating the prisoner swap with Israel that saw Lebanese fighter Samir Quntar, four other high priority prisoners, 190 bodies and 5 further detained Palestinians released on 15 July, for the bodies of two captured Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. The swap was seen as a victory for Hizbullah and many Israelis, who did not know that Goldwasser and Regev were in fact dead until the moment of the swap, felt that they had been cheated in the swap.

Israeli press reported that Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy to tell Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad that supplying arms to Hizbullah was going beyond what Israel would accept.

Last week a Hizbullah announcement made mention of their goal to halt Israeli aircraft flying over southern Lebanon.

Suleiman had been close to the Al-Assad since 1994, and was later appointed "operations officer," which placed him in ranks above any ministerial position, including that of defence minister. The Saudi Arabian paper Al-Sharq al-Awsat based in London quoted one source as saying that "He [Sulaiman] knew everything.”

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.