Latifa al-Droubi, the wife of Syrian Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, made a rare public appearance during the official visit to Saudi Arabia this week.
In videos and photos circulating widely on social media on Monday, the two can be seen performing the Umrah — considered Islam’s “minor pilgrimage” — inside the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. The posts drew public interest, as Droubi has largely stayed out of the public eye.
Suriye Geçiş Dönemi Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmed el-Şaraa’nın eşi Latife el-Darubi, Mekke’de Umre ibadeti sırasında ilk kez kamuoyunun karşısına çıktı.
Daha önce eşiyle birlikte hiç görüntülenmeyen el-Darubi’nin, Şaraa’nın Suudi Arabistan’a resmi ziyareti sırasında ortaya çıkması dikkat… pic.twitter.com/FChp4ZooG2
— Çetiner Çetin (@cetiner_cetin) February 4, 2025
On Tuesday, during Sharaa’s trip to Turkey, Droubi met with Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan in Ankara, according to Turkish news channel A Haber.
Turkey’s First Lady Emine Erdogan hosts Syrian First Lady Latifa al-Daroubi, Sharaa’s wife.
First official picture, I believe. pic.twitter.com/oL7sHMQwpj
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 4, 2025
Sharaa’s travel to Saudi Arabia and Turkey represent the first international trips for the interim president since he assumed the office last month.
Ahead of the trip and during a meeting between Sharaa and a delegation of Syrian American women in Damascus last week, Sharaa introduced Droubi to his guests. According to a post on X by delegation member Reem al-Bazm, the group was “very happy” to meet Droubi.
Prominent family
Droubi hails from a prominent family in the western Syrian governorate of Homs, from the town of Al-Qaryatayn. According to reports from several Arab media outlets, her family has produced well-known scholars, including Quran reciter Sheikh Abdul Ghaffar al-Droubi, who died in Jeddah in 2009.
Sharaa himself was born in Saudi Arabia and spent seven years of his childhood there while his father worked as an oil engineer, before the family returned to Syria in 1989.
The Droubi family’s presence in Syria dates back at least to the Ottoman Empire.
Alaa ad-Din al-Droubi, a former ambassador of the Ottoman Empire, served as Syria’s second prime minister for just 26 days in 1920 before his assassination. Another member of the Droubi family, Ghazi al-Droubi, served from 1984 to 1987 as Syria’s minister of oil and resources under President Hafez al-Assad.
Droubi, who has a master’s degree in Arabic language and literature, has three sons with Sharaa. Her sister is also reportedly married to the current governor of Damascus, Maher Mohammad Marwan, who was appointed on Dec. 15, 2024, just a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Syria’s former first lady, Asma al-Assad, wife of Bashar, maintained a fairly high profile. It was reported that Asma and her three children left for Moscow in November 2024, just before her husband’s ouster on Dec. 08.