Bashar al-Assad’s sister ‘now in Dubai’

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s only sister, Bushra, whose husband was killed in a July bombing, is now living in Dubai with her children, Syrian residents said yesterday. Bushra’s husband General Assef Shawkat, an army deputy chief of staff, was killed along with three other high-ranking officials in a July 18 bombing at the National Security headquarters in Damascus.

The President’s elder sister, a pharmacist in her 50s, has five children she has enrolled at a private school in Dubai, according to Syrian expatriates in the emirate.

Ayman Abdel Nour, editor-in-chief of opposition news website all4syria.com, said that Bushra, who did not hold any position in the Syrian regime, left after “differences” with her brother whose troops are locked in a deadly conflict with rebels.

Bashar has “accused her of being closer to the opposition because she did not entirely agree with his policies,” Abdel Nour said.

With Bushra’s departure, Assad now has only his brother Maher, who commands the notorious Fourth Brigade, in the country.

A large number of businessmen and wealthy Syrians fleeing the unrest have arrived in Dubai over the past few months.