Battling for a piece of Assad: Emails leaked by Syrian rebels reveal married dictator's secret admirers (some of whom are rather saucy...)





Syrian president Bashar Assad received affectionate emails from three women, it has been claimed.

The dictator, who is married to British-born Asma Assad, appears to have received messages from two young public relations aides telling him that they miss him.

A third woman, said to be a jewellery designer, wrote: ‘I can’t see a life without you.’



Married: President Bashar al-Assad poses with his wife Asma, at a polling station in Damascus, Syria. Their relationship has formed a key part of his public image during his country's brutal crackdown on opposition groups

Another email, which was sent in December and came to light yesterday, contains a photograph of an unknown woman dressed only in white lingerie as she presses herself against a wall.

Details of the messages emerged in today's Sunday Times, which reports that anti-government activists gathered and distributed the cache to expose the Syrian dictator to public disapproval.

The revelations could prove damaging to Mr Assad's reputation in the Arab world, particularly in conservative Iran.

His wife has rarely made public appearances over the past year, since the Assad regime mounted a brutal crackdown on opposition groups.

Last month, however, she smiled for the cameras as the president cast his vote in a referendum on constitutional reform.

Who is she? This provocative photograph of an unknown woman in white lingerie was found in Mr Assad's inbox and sent out by Syrian rebels 'I miss you': PR aide Hadeel al-Ali, who fawned over a picture of a young Mr Assad in an email to the Syrian president

Former investment banker Mrs Assad, 36, was raised in Acton, West London.



One of the three admirers has been named as Sheherazad Jaafari, a PR adviser in her early twenties and the daughter of Syria's ambassador to the United Nations.

The emails show her asking another of Mr Assad's advisers to tell him: 'I love him so so so much and that I miss him.'

A message from November 27 last year finds her gushing about how wonderful she thinks Assad is, while in another she writes excitedly that she is to meet Piers Morgan the next day.

The other PR aide, named in the Sunday Times as Hadeel al-Ali, attaches a picture of Mr Assad in his youth and calls him 'cute'.

The third woman's name is Rasha Mouakeh.

These latest messages follow the revelation this week of an exchange between the president and a mystery woman, in which casual discussions of matters of state grow increasingly flirtatious.

And in emails from a second address, possibly used by the same woman under a false name, the pair are seen to swap Lebanese love songs.

One message includes the Arabic character for 'I love you'.

State media in the Middle Eastern nation have dismissed the email cache as a hoax, and there is no proof of any sexual relationship.

None of the women were available for comment.

Destruction: The emails surfaced as Syria suffered two devastating car bomb attacks on its capital, Damascus. Above, a ruined security building smoulders in the city centre

The rebels' leak comes at a particularly turbulent time for Syria, which saw a devastating attack on its capital city of Damascus yesterday.

Twenty-seven people died as two huge explosions ripped through security targets at around 7.30am, leaving the city's aviation intelligence department and criminal security department in ruins.