Arabs embrace Steve Jobs

While the world mourned the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs in California, many Syrians were quick to claim the computer genius as one of their own on October 6, 2011, through a little-known connection to his biological father. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Jandali, 80, a former academic, has told how Schieble's "tyrant" father refused to allow his daughter to marry a Syrian and so the baby was adopted by a married couple from California, Paul and Clara Jobs. (Reuters)

Only in recent years did Jandali, born in the Syrian city of Homs and latterly an executive of the Boomtown Casino in Reno, Nevada, realise that the Apple chief was his son. (Reuters)

"Without telling me, Joanne upped and left to move to San Francisco to have the baby without anyone knowing, including me," Jandali told the New York Post in an interview in August. "She did not want to bring shame onto the family and thought this was best for everyone." (Reuters)

With Jandali out of the picture at the outset, many Syrians were unaware of the connection between Apple and their homeland until recently. But they were quick to embrace Jobs when news broke of his death. Users of the social networking site Twitter were also quick to draw parallels with Syria's uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which has cost more than 2,900 lives, by a UN count. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

"The wrong Syrian died today," said one Twitter user, echoing sentiments of the Syrian leader's bitter opponents. "A sick world we live in when Steve Jobs has to die of cancer and Bashar al-Assad remains Syria's cancer," another opposition supporter said on the website. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)