DUBAI — Anisa Makhluf, the mother of President Bashar Al-Assad, has left the war-torn country and joined her daughter in Dubai, Syrian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates and an activist said Sunday.



Makhluf has been living next to her daughter, Bushra, the only sister of Assad, in Dubai since around 10 days, Syrian expatriates told AFP.



Bushra’s husband Gen. 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.



In September, Syrian residents here said that Bushra had enrolled her five children at a private school in Dubai where she had moved.



Analysts say that President Assad is increasingly relying on the tightly-knit circle surrounding him, which includes Maher, his only brother still alive and who commands the army’s notorious Fourth Brigade. — AFP