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4/18/12

Syria’s first couple fights to salvage image

President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asmaa were shown on Syrian state TV packing food aid, an apparent effort to burnish the image of a first couple derided for ordering luxury goods on the Internet while their country burns.

State television broadcast pictures on Wednesday of the Assads receiving a rapturous welcome at al-Fahya stadium in Damascus.

They joined hundreds of volunteers boxing cartons full of flour, sugar, cooking oil and pasta for victims of fighting in Homs, where the president's forces are crushing an uprising.

The Assads have long worked to manage their image, but it backfired a year ago when a glamoros photo shoot and gushing profile of Asmaa, 36, appeared in Vogue magazine just as her husband launched a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

For more: Syria’s first couple fights to salvage image

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