Report: Leaked emails indicate Syria president got advice from Iran

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule, according to several thousand emails apparently received and sent by the Syrian leader and his wife, the Guardian newspaper of London reported Wednesday.

Assad also received details about Western journalists in Homs and was urged to "tighten the security grip" on the opposition-held city in November, The Guardian said, citing more than 3,000 emails that activists shared with the newspaper after downloading them from private accounts belonging to Assad and his wife, Asma.

The messages were intercepted by members of the opposition Supreme Council of the Revolution group between June and early February, the Guardian said.

The documents emerged on the eve of the rebellion’s first anniversary, a day that also saw Saudi Arabia close its embassy in Damascus and ahead of a United Nations briefing by crisis envoy Kofi Annan, who completed a peace mission to Syria to end violence that has already cost 8,000 lives.

The email messages appear to show Asma spending thousands of dollars over the internet for designer goods such as candlesticks, tables and chandeliers while Assad swapped entertaining internet links on his iPad and downloaded music from iTunes.  More >>