Jammo's Wife Handed to Lebanon over Suspicion of Involvement in his Murder

Lebanese authorities were handed the wife of a pro-government Syrian journalist killed in southern Lebanon last week after she attended her husband's funeral in Syria, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The daily said that Syrian authorities handed Siham Younis to officers from the General Security Department at al-Arida border crossing in the North on Tuesday night after several suspects admitted that she planned for the murder of her husband Mohammed Darrar Jammo.

LBCI television later reported however that Jammo's wife was not handed over to Lebanon by Syria, revealing she was arrested as she was crossing the al-Arida border crossing.

Jammo was buried in Latakia on Syria's Mediterranean coast last Friday.

The 44-year-old journalist and political commentator was one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's and Hizbullah's most vociferous defenders.

In frequent appearances on television talk shows, he would staunchly support the Syrian regime's strong-armed response to the uprising and in at least one case shouted down opposition figures, calling them "traitors."

He was killed when his wife's relatives burst into the first floor of his apartment in the town of Sarafand and opened fire on him.

Initial reports that the murder was politically motivated were ruled out when security forces detained the relatives.

The army confirmed in a communique that military intelligence identified the killers and captured the weapons used in the killing.

But Younis has denied any connection to the murder.

"What's going on?... He's been my husband for 20 years," Younis told al-Jadeed TV last week.