<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile — Report: Hizbullah chief assassinated after warning Syria's Assad of coup plot

Report: Hizbullah chief assassinated after warning Syria's Assad of coup plot

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Free Headline Alerts

LONDON — Syrian President Bashar Assad reportedly blocked a coup planned by his brother-in-law who has disappeared from public view.

The German daily Die Welt reported that Assad foiled a coup by his brother-in-law, Assaf Chawkat, in February 2008. The newspaper said Chawkat, then Syrian intelligence chief, attempted to overthrow Assad in cooperation with the opposition Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaida.

Assad was said to have been informed of the coup plans by Hizbullah operational chief Imad Mughniyeh. Days later, the newspaper said, Mughniyeh was assassinated by Chawkat's agents in Damascus.

"The seizure of power was planned to take place during the meeting of the Arab League at the end of March in Damascus," Die Welt said on Saturday.

Since the coup attempt, Die Welt said, Assad deposed Chawkat and placed him under house arrest. Chawkat, who at one point, was endorsed by exiled Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, has not been seen in public since.

"More than 100 secret service officers, who worked for Chakwat, are in detention," Die Welt said.

Still, Chawkat, appointed intelligence chief in 2005, would probably not be prosecuted for the coup attempt. Die Welt said Assad did not want to harm his sister, Bushra, married to Chawkat. Syria has denied the newspaper report.

"Bushra was sent abroad — first to France and then the United Arab Emirates," Die Welt said.

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