The US government yesterday moved to freeze the assets of Syriaâs interior minister and a military intelligence chief, accusing them of abetting terrorism and destabilizing the region. The Treasury Department named Syriaâs Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan and Rustum Ghazali, who had espionage responsibility for neighboring Lebanon, as âSpecially Designated Nationalsâ under an antiterrorism presidential order. âTodayâs designation freezes any assets the designees may have located in the United States and prohibits US persons from engaging in transactions with these individuals,â it said in a press release. The US government said it believed that Kanaan and Ghazali âhave directed the Syrian Arab Republic Governmentâs (SARG) military and security presence in Lebanon and or contributed to the SARGâs support for terrorism.ââBoth Ghazali and Kanaan allegedly engaged in a variety of corrupt activities and were reportedly the beneficiaries of corrupt business deals during their respective tenures in Lebanon,â the treasury added. It said that before being replaced by Ghazali in late 2002, Kanaan served as Syrian Military Intelligence (SMI) chief for Lebanon for about 20 years.