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.
