The National Security Directorate said this large-scale poisoning was caused by such locally made alcohol.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Brought back to Damascus as head of the Political Security Directorate three years ago, before becoming interior minister in October 2004, Mr Kanaan was a pillar of the regime.

ECONOMIST: A rather convenient suicide | The

It took a month of negotiations between the Lebanese and Syrian governments before Syria consented to having the Lebanese General Security Directorate, a Hezbollah-controlled agency, retrieve the bodies, said Sheik Mohammed Ibrahim, a Tripoli-based cleric.

WSJ: As Syrian Crisis Intensifies, Fight Bleeds Into Lebanon