London: Syria's President Bashar Al Assad may have earned a reputation for fearsome violence but he is affectionately nicknamed "duck" by his British-born wife Asma, leaked emails between the couple reveal.
In some messages, Asma used an alias for her husband's private e-mail address of "batta", the Arabic for duck. On January 18, as the United States sought to step up international pressure against him, Al Assad found an e-card in his inbox from his wife, entitled "To my [Bald] Batta", and signed "your Batta".
Asma sent her husband a stream of romantic, soppy and at times racy messages.
The cache of 3,000 emails between the Al Assads, their advisers and family members has circulated widely on the internet and been gleefully seized upon by Syrian activists aiming to topple the regime.
Opposition websites and Facebook pages have become strewn with jokes at the expense of the Syrian president.
One doctored photograph depicts pro-regime followers on their knees kissing the image of a duck.
The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2012
