The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, is facing damaging revelations about his close relationship to three women who declare intimate feelings for him in a cache of private emails.
The messages purportedly show two young public relations advisers repeatedly telling the dictator: “I miss you.” A third woman, thought to be a Syrian jewellery designer, states: “I can’t see a life without you.”
Yesterday it emerged that one female admirer had sent Assad a photograph of a semi-naked woman wearing a thong and posing provocatively against a wall.
The emails, obtained and leaked by rebel activists, appear to be aimed at turning public opinion against Assad in the Arab world and, in particular, in morally conservative Iran, Syria’s main regional ally. The level of affection expressed for Assad is also likely to surprise his British-born wife Asma.
In one message, Sheherazad Jaafari, a PR aide in her early twenties, asks another young adviser to tell the president, “I love him so so so much and that I miss him”.
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On November 27 last year, Jaafari, the daughter of Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, provided a brief analysis of a US newspaper article on Syria before signing off: “Miss u!!! ur WONDERFUL in every way!” A more recent email says: “I miss you. I am meeting with Piers Morgan tomorrow ... I feel appreciated here!”
There is no evidence to suggest any sexual relationship between Assad and the women. Syrian state media has claimed the emails are a hoax.