Syria pushes back on intel chief 'rumors'

WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- Syrian officials are pushing back against reports that the country's intelligence chief has been removed from his post, using both direct and indirect means.

Reports that Gen. Assef Shawkat, the director of military intelligence, the strongest and most influential security service in Syria, had been placed under house arrest or sent his family abroad have been circulating since earlier this month, usually sourced to exiled former regime figures or unnamed intelligence sources.

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London reported in its Syria News Briefing this week that Syrian state TV last weekend broadcast pictures of Shawkat apparently attending a graduation ceremony at a military academy.

Shawkat was designated a supporter of terrorism by the U.S. Treasury in January 2006 "for his role in Syrian interference in Lebanon and for his support of terrorist activity against Israel."

IWPR said analysts were divided over whether there was any truth to the reports that Shawkat was out of favor because of some alleged role in the assassination of senior Hezbollah official Imad Mugniyeh in Damascus in February. The official Syrian report on the killing has been delayed -- leading some to divine internal differences within the regime.

The recently launched Syria briefing is produced weekly by IWPR-trained reporters in the country, who remain anonymous for their own security.

The TV pictures of Shawkat were a subtle counterpoint to the more direct denials of Syria's ambassador in Washington, Imad Moustapha. According to the Arabic language Web site All4Syria.com, Moustapha told Arab journalists the reports were "rumors" spread by Israeli intelligence or exile plotters.