Bizarre personal photos of ousted dictator Assad spark ridicule in Syria

A man shows old pictures of the late Syrian president Hafez Assad (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

Bizarre and personal photos of ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad have surfaced from his abandoned residences, sparking ridicule among Syrians who until recently were persecuted for criticising his leadership.

The images, reportedly discovered in photo albums from Mr Assad’s mansions in the hills of Damascus and Aleppo, painted an unflattering portrait of Bashar and his father, Hafez Assad, who had ruled Syria with an iron grip for decades.