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Syrian President Bashar Assad Marries
Syrian President Bashar Assad has married a young Syrian woman who grew up in London, his official media reported Jan.2.
In a brief front-page story accompanied by a large photograph of Assad, but none of his bride, the state newspaper Tishreen said Assad and Asma Akhras had a New Year's Day ceremony.
Speculation had been rife that the 35-year-old president was preparing to marry or perhaps already had and much of the talk had focused on Akhras, who is in her 20s. She is the daughter of a Syrian cardiologist practicing in London and from a prominent family in Homs, 100 miles north of Damascus.
Tishreen, the only Syrian newspaper to publish an edition on Jan.2 after the New Year's holiday, provided few details, saying only that Akhras had a degree in computer science from a British university.
Akhras is believed to have spent most of her life in Britain, where Assad, an eye doctor, studied medicine.
Assad's late father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, strictly separated his private and public life, keeping his wife out of the limelight. But, the younger Assad has been more open, and his Western-educated bride may take a more public role.
Bashar Assad succeeded to the presidency after his father's death in June.
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