Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Russia this weekend, ending a nearly fourteen-year struggle to retain power in his country amid a civil war that became a battleground for international and regional powers.
But the Assad people learned through news of the war in Syria that it was not who some expected when he came to power.
Come to power
Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, had cultivated Bashar’s eldest brother Basil as his successor. In 1994, Basil died in a car accident in Damascus. Bashar was then brought home from his ophthalmology practice in London and put through military training, where he was elevated to the rank of colonel to give him the credentials to one day rule Syria.
Hafez ruled Syria for almost thirty years, during which he established a Soviet-style centralized economy. He also formed an alliance with the Shiite clerical leadership in Iran, sealed Syrian rule over Lebanon and set up a network of Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) and his wife Asma al-Assad (L) attend the opening ceremony of the 2022 Asian Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on September 23, 2023 . (PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
When Hafez died in 2000, the country’s parliament lowered the age requirement to become president from 40 to 34, and through a nationwide referendum, Bashar became president, as he was the only candidate.
Bashar initially seemed the opposite of his father. When Bashar came to power, he spoke with a slight lisp, was tall, lanky, quiet and had a friendly demeanor. His only official position before becoming president was head of the Syrian Computer Society, so people thought he was a nerdy, tech-savvy fan of computers with a mild-mannered attitude.
Bashar also released political prisoners and allowed more open discourse.
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FILE – This April 13, 2016 file photo released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian presidency shows Syrian President Bashar Assad casting his vote in the parliamentary elections as his wife Asma, left, stands next to him in Damascus, Syria. (Syrian Presidency via AP, dossier)
Syrian Princess Diana?
A few months after taking office, Bashar married Asma al-Akhras, a British-born woman known for being attractive and stylish. The two eventually had three children.
The couple lived in an apartment in the upscale Abu Rummaneh neighborhood of Damascus, as opposed to a mansion like other Arab leaders.
Asma, born in Acton, West London, to Sunnis Muslims from Homs, Syriabecame known as the Syrian Princess Diana.
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Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad attends the harvest of Damascena (Damask) roses in al-Marah village, Damascus countryside, on May 25, 2023. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)
She earned degrees in computer science and French literature from Queen’s College London and entered banking, where she worked as a hedge fund analyst.
She married Bashar in a “secret” wedding in 2000, when he was 35, and she was only 25.
As Bashar continued to rule, things began to change.
Changing directions
In 2005, Bashar was dealt a blow by the loss of Syria’s decades-long control over neighboring Lebanon following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many in Lebanon accused Bashar of being behind the killing. Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and a pro-American government came to power.
At the same time, the Arab world split into two: one side was allied with the US and included Sunni-led countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while the other side consisted of Syria and Iran, along with their connections to Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrives in Jeddah to attend the Arab League summit the next day, Saudi Arabia, May 18, 2023.
Bashar appointed family members to key roles, while also entrusting tasks to Asma.
In 2011, rulers in Tunisia and Egypt were overthrown by protesters, although Bashar rejected that this could also happen in Syria.
His security forces carried out a brutal crackdown, while Bashar denied he was facing a popular uprising. Instead, he blamed “foreign-backed terrorists” for their attempts to destabilize his regime.
The uprising turned into a spiral civil war with millions of Syrians fleeing to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Europe.
In March 2011, Vogue magazine published a profile on Asma, calling her a “Rose in the Desert” and “the very latest and most magnetic first ladies”. The article, which described the Assads as “extremely democratic” and depicted them as progressive and intelligent, was based on an interview conducted in late 2010. It was taken off the internet weeks after its publication, as Assad’s bloody crackdown on Syrian dissidents was good news. en route.
“After our interview, as the terrible events of the past year and a half unfolded in Syria, it became clear that the magazine’s priorities and values were completely at odds with those of Vogue,” said Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the magazine. said at the time.
Lavish expenses
In 2012, Wikileaks published private emails from the 42-year-old Briton, showing that she had spent $350,000 on 130 pieces of furniture while the country’s civil war had been raging for a year.
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Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad takes part in a graduation ceremony of future teachers from a Syrian organization for persons with disabilities, in Damascus on December 3, 2018. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)
The published emails also allegedly reveal that she had also purchased a $7,000 pair of shoes with crystal-encrusted heels and had the goods shipped to Dubai to avoid sanctions.
The couple’s ultra-modern presidential mansion – commissioned in 1979 and designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange – is believed to have cost a billion dollars.
In 1989, the Washington Post reported that a single room was outfitted with 125,000 Italian marble tiles at a cost of $85 per tile. The total cost for a single room was approximately $10.6 million.
On the same day that her husband is believed to have dropped sarin gas on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, Asma posted a photo of herself in a chic polka dot dress, apparently deep in thought and smiling.
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Asma’s social media posts depicted her as a humanitarian, adorned with photos of the first lady reading to children and hugging the family of a Syrian killed in the country’s civil war — all with the loving hashtag #WeLoveYouAsma.
The photos are in stark contrast to those on news channels showing Syrian children dead in the streets after choking on poison gas that the US and its allies said was unleashed by her dictator husband.
In May, Syrian officials announced that Asma had been diagnosed with leukemia, forcing her to temporarily withdraw from public life.
Bashar’s office released a statement at the time saying that Asma had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and that she “will adhere to a specialized treatment protocol that includes strict infection prevention measures.
Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and blood.
Asma was previously treated for breast cancer.
Timothy HJ Nerozzi of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
