ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: Syria's first lady Asma al-Assad recently hosted an event for students who had received high marks in their matriculation exams, Syrian television reported on Thursday.<br/> <br />As Syria struggles with a civil war and foreign powers push for a change in leadership, the London-born first lady took time to meet students at a location in Damascus last week, the state broadcaster reported.<br/> <br />Students were said to have traveled from Deraa, Damascus and its suburbs, Homs and other cities.<br/> <br />The group could be seen seated together holding discussions said to be about the difficulties their families faces in conflict hotspots.<br/> <br />A British-educated former investment banker, Asma cultivated the image of a glamorous yet serious-minded woman with strong Western-inspired values who was meant to humanize the increasingly secretive and isolated Assad family.<br/> <br />That image crumbled when her husband responded to an anti-government rebellion with extreme violence a year ago.<br/> <br />Asma's ancestral home is the city of Homs, now a symbol of the revolt which has been subjected to particularly fierce attack by her husband's tanks to become ground zero in the year-long conflict.
