[al-Monitor] It seems that a curse has befallen the Syrian intelligence officers who took up posts under the Syrian tutelage in Leb from 1990 to 2005. Ten years following the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Leb on April 26, 2005, a series of tragic events has befallen these security officials. One by one, their names have been struck off the "Leb's Syrians" list. Most recently, Rustom Ghazaleh was pronounced dead in Damascus on April 24. His death came weeks after news of a mysterious accident in February, involving his beating and torture at the hands of a Damascus intelligence branch.Ghazi Kanaan was the first to be struck by the "Lebanese curse." He came to Leb in 1984 as head of Syria's security apparatus in Leb, assigned to the post by the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Not long after the Syrian army took full control of Leb in the fall of 1990, Kanaan became the de facto ruler of the Lebanese Republic. He would suggest a candidate for Leb's presidential elections, and impose ministers, members of parliament and public administration employees. He continued to have full rein over Leb until his superiors moved him from Beirut to Damascus in October 2002.
At the time, Lebanese officials bade him farewell as if he were the head of state. The Lebanese president awarded him the Medal of the National Order of the Cedar -- an honorary title only awarded to heads of state -- while Prime Minister Rafik Hariri presented him the "Key to Beirut," an exceptional move reserved for visiting foreign heads of state.