How to get HTML code of a WebElement in Selenium

I am new at testing so my apologies in advance if my question sounds a bit primary.

I am using Selenium and Java to write a test.

I know that webElement.getAttribute("innerHTML"); brings me the innerHTML, for example for the element below:

<a href="#" class="ui-dialog-titlebar-close ui-corner-all" role="button" style="position: absolute; border-radius: 0px 0px 4px 4px;"><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-closethick">close</span></a>

it returns:

<span class="ui-icon ui-icon-closethick">close</span>

but I need something that brings me the inner attribute of WebElement "a", something like below:

href="#" class="ui-dialog-titlebar-close ui-corner-all" role="button" style="position: absolute; border-radius: 0px 0px 4px 4px;"