Syrian president’s mother dies at 86

Damascus: The mother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad died on Saturday at the age of 86.

Anisah Makhlouf, born in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia in 1930, married late President Hafez al-Assad in 1957 when he was a first lieutenant, Xinhua quoted a report by state news agency SANA as saying.

Makhlouf was interested in women issues and visited many foreign countries with her late husband when he took to office in 1971.

—IANS