2016-02-06T195656Z_1_LYNXNPEC150I1_RTROPTP_3_FRANCE-SHOOTING-SYRIA-ASSAD
Syrian President Bashar Assad during an interview in Damascus with the magazine Literarni Noviny in this handout picture from Syria's national news agency, Jan. 8, 2015. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters

Syrian President Bashar Assad's mother, Anisa Makhlouf, has died at the age of 86, Syrian state media said Saturday.

Makhlouf was married to the late president Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.

They married in 1957 and had five children: Bushra, Basil, Bashar, Majed and Maher.

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