Intersting symetry

Reuters:

Lebanon's tourism minister resigned Friday and Syria named a new military intelligence chief amid political turbulence following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Hariri's killing in Beirut Monday sparked anti-Syrian fury among many Lebanese and renewed world pressure on Damascus to loosen its political grip and remove its troops from Lebanon.

Tourism Minister Farid al-Khazen, a Maronite Christian, said he had quit because the Syrian-backed government was unable to "remedy the dangerous situation in the country."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad named his brother-in-law, Major-General Asef Shawkat, as head of military intelligence to replace retiring Major-General Hassan Khalil. Syrian sources said the change took effect Monday, Khalil's 60th birthday.

The article does not say why Khalil's 60th birthday was an occassion for retirement. Did Khalil know something about the murder of Hariri? Probably. It had to be part of his job to know what was going on in Syrian controlled Lebanon.

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