DAMASCUS, Syria, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Israel was a likely suspect in the 2008 slaying of the top security aide to Syrian President Bashar Assad, leaked U.S. embassy cables reveal.
A sniper killed Syrian Gen. Muhammad Suleiman in August 2008 in the coastal city of Tartous. Sensitive U.S. embassy cables leaked to WikiLeaks and published by London's Guardian newspaper reveal that U.S. officials thought Israel was the "most obvious suspect".
"Syrian security services are well aware that the coastal city of Tartous would offer easier access to Israeli operatives than would more inland locations such as Damascus," the cable reads. "Suleiman was not a highly visible government official, and the use of a sniper suggests the assassin could visually identify Suleiman from a distance".
Israeli jets roughly a year earlier had destroyed a sensitive nuclear site in Syria thought to be one of Suleiman's pet projects.
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus said the assassination caused an uproar in Syria as the government tried to act as a power broker in the region.
"If the Israelis did it (killed Suleiman), why was the Syrian government continuing the dialogue (with Israel)?" an embassy source questioned. "And if it was an inside job, people are wondering about their future". UPI
