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A raunchy snap of a brunette in her underwear has sparked a global mystery after it was found in Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s email inbox.

The picture has led to a guessing game about whether the married president has a mistress.

It was discovered after ­Assad’s emails were hacked into by opposition activists.

They claim the messages show how the president and his cohorts have shown little concern as he continues to slaughter his own people by the thousand.

Two bombs killed at least 27 in the capital Damascus yesterday as Syria teeters on the brink of civil war.

The woman in the picture appears to be her in 20s and, although the email is not signed, insiders say she looks like the woman whose name was on the email address.

Flirty messages from a second address were also found.

On December 1 a ­woman wrote “Hi” to Assad and 18 minutes later he replied: “Hi and a half.” The couple swapped emails for days and the woman sent Assad an Arabic symbol for love.

The emails also reveal a group of young women around the dictator who advised him on PR.

One, the striking-looking Hadeel al-Ali, sent Assad a picture of himself as a student, calling him a “dude” and ­adding: “So cute, I miss youuuuuu.”

And in January al-Ali, who met Barack Obama as a student at Montana State University, complimented him on his suit and healthy complexion – ­telling him she was proud of his “strength, wisdom and charisma”.

The 3,000 messages also show Assad buying tracks on iTunes by ­Manchester band New Order.

His wife Asama, 36, is ­revealed as a ­shopaholic who bought clothes from Harrods and furniture from Britain.