The youngest son of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden left Iran late last month and is now in Damascus, the Saudi-controlled newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Wednesday. Bakr bin Laden had spent the last eight years in Iran before being allowed to leave to Syria, the daily said, citing Omar bin Laden, another son of the network leader.
In Damascus, he was reunited with his Syrian mother Najwa al-Ghanem, one of Osama bin Laden's wives, Omar conveyed. "My brother Bakr arrived from Tehran on Christmas day, bringing joy to the family and ending the tears of our mother," Omar, 29, was quoted as saying. "But our joy will not be complete until the other members of the family are able to leave Tehran safely and soundly," said Omar, who lives in Qatar.