With 12 of the 52 most wanted former Baathist Party officials still eluding U.S. and Iraqi custody, they can now cross off Saddam Hussein’s half-brother, Ibrahim al-Hassan. al-Hassan, who is accused of funding the insurgency in Iraq, was apprehended in Syria.

Al-Hassan, a former Saddam adviser, was captured in Hasakah in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border, two senior Iraqi officials told The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity. Hasakah is about 30 miles from Iraq.

They added that al-Hassan was captured and handed over to Iraqi authorities along with 29 other members of Saddam’s collapsed Baath Party, whose Syrian branch has been in power in Damascus since 1963.

The Iraqi officials did not specify when al-Hassan was captured, only saying he was detained following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, in a blast that killed 16 others.

I really should take this at face value, however I cannot. The United States and Iraq have long since told Syria to turn over Saddam’s henchmen who are housed between their borders. Each time Syria denied there were any Saddam loyalists funding the Iraqi insurgency from Syria. Despite proof of communications intercepts, satellite imagery and taped confessions Syria maintained this claim.

Now, as if all of the sudden, Syria finds al-Hassan and turns him over to Iraqi authorities. With the increased international pressure upon Syria following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Syria just happens to find al-Hassan and hand him over. This doesn’t pass the smell test.

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