Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Russia over the weekend, ending a virtually 14-year wrestle to take care of energy in his nation amid a civil battle that was a battlefield for worldwide and regional powers.
However the Assad individuals got here to know via the information of battle in Syria was not who some anticipated when he got here to energy.
Rise to Energy
Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, had been cultivating Bashar’s oldest brother Basil as his successor. In 1994, Basil was killed in a automotive crash in Damascus. Bashar was then introduced dwelling from his ophthalmology observe in London and put via navy coaching, the place he was elevated to the rank of colonel to provide him the credentials to at some point rule Syria.
Hafez dominated Syria for almost 30 years, throughout which he established a Soviet-style centralized economic system. He additionally fashioned an alliance with the Shiite clerical management in Iran, sealed Syrian domination over Lebanon and arrange a community of Palestinian and Lebanese militant teams.
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Syrias President Bashar al-Assad (C) and his spouse Asma al-Assad (L) attend the opening ceremony of the 2022 Asian Video games on the Hangzhou Olympic Sports activities Centre Stadium in Hangzhou in Chinas japanese Zhejiang province on September 23, 2023. ( PHILIP FONG/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
When Hafez died in 2000, the nation’s parliament lowered the age requirement to change into president from 40 to 34, and thru a nationwide referendum, Bashar turned president, having been the one candidate.
Bashar initially appeared the alternative of his father. When Bashar got here to energy, he spoke with a slight lisp, was tall, lanky, quiet and had a delicate demeanor. His solely official place earlier to turning into president was the top of the Syrian Laptop Society, so individuals believed he was a geeky tech-savvy fan of computer systems with a delicate demeanor.
Bashar additionally freed political prisoners and allowed extra open discourse.
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FILE – This April 13, 2016 file picture launched on the official Fb web page of Syrian Presidency, reveals Syrian President Bashar Assad casting his poll within the parliamentary elections, as his spouse Asma, left, stands subsequent to him, in Damascus, Syria. (Syrian Presidency by way of AP, File)
Syria’s Princess Diana?
A number of months after taking workplace, Bashar married Asma al-Akhras, a British-born lady who is understood for being enticing and trendy. The 2 ultimately had three kids.
The couple lived in an residence within the upscale neighborhood of Abu Rummaneh in Damascus, versus a mansion like different Arab leaders.
Asma, who was born in Acton, West London, to Sunni Muslims from Homs, Syria, turned often called Syria’s Princess Diana.
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Syrian First Woman Asma al-Assad attends the harvest of Damascena (Damask) roses within the village of al-Marah, within the Damascus countryside, on Might 25, 2023. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
She gained levels in laptop science and French literature at Queen’s School London and went into banking, working as a hedge funds analyst.
She married Bashar in a “secret” marriage ceremony in 2000 when he was 35, and he or she was simply 25.
As Bashar continued to rule, issues started to alter.
Altering Instructions
In 2005, Bashar suffered a blow with the lack of Syria’s decades-long management over neighboring Lebanon after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many in Lebanon accused Bashar of being behind the homicide. Syria was compelled to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and a pro-American authorities got here to energy.
Throughout the identical time, the Arab world cut up into two – one aspect was U.S.-allied and included Sunni-led nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whereas the opposite aspect consisted of Syria and Iran, together with their connections to Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad arrives in Jeddah, to attend the Arab League summit the next day, Saudi Arabia, Might 18, 2023.
Bashar appointed members of the family to key roles, whereas additionally giving entrusted roles to Asma.
In 2011, rulers in Tunisian and Egypt had been toppled by protesters, although Bashar dismissed that it might additionally occur in Syria.
His safety forces staged a brutal crackdown whereas Bashar denied he confronted a well-liked revolt. As a substitute, he blamed “foreign-backed terrorists” for attempting to destabilize his regime.
The rebellion spiraled into civil war with tens of millions of Syrians fleeing to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Europe.
In March 2011, Vogue journal revealed a profile on Asma, calling her a “Rose within the Desert” and “the very freshest and most magnetic of first women.” The article, which described the Assads as “wildly democratic” and portrayed them as progressive and clever, was primarily based on an interview performed in late 2010. It was pulled from the web weeks after its publication, as Assad’s bloody crackdown on Syrian dissidents was nicely beneath method.
“Subsequent to our interview, because the horrible occasions of the previous yr and a half unfolded in Syria, it turned clear that its priorities and values had been fully at odds with these of Vogue,” the journal’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, stated on the time.
Lavish Spending
In 2012, Wikileaks revealed non-public emails from the 42-year-old Brit exhibiting she blew via $350,000 on 130 items of furnishings when the nation’s civil battle had been raging for one yr.
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Syria’s First Woman Asma al-Assad takes half in a commencement ceremony of future lecturers of a Syrian Organisation for Individuals with Disabilities, in Damascus on December 3, 2018. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
The revealed emails additionally reportedly confirmed she additionally purchased a pair of $7,000 sneakers with crystal-encrusted heels and had the products shipped to Dubai to get round sanctions.
The couple’s ultra-modern presidential mansion – commissioned in 1979 and designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange – is believed to have price $1 billion.
In 1989, the Washington Post reported {that a} single room was fitted with 125,000 Italian marble tiles at a price of $85 per tile. The entire price spent on a single room was about $10.6 million.
On the identical day her husband is believed to have dropped sarin gasoline on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, Asma posted a photograph of herself sporting a classy polka-dotted gown, seemingly deep in thought and smiling.
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Asma’s social media posts depicted her as a humanitarian, adorned with images of the primary girl studying to kids and embracing the household of a Syrian who was killed within the nation’s civil battle – all with the affectionate hashtag #WeLoveYouAsma.
The images are a stark distinction to those on information channels that confirmed Syrian kids mendacity lifeless within the streets after choking on poison gasoline that the U.S. and its allies stated was unleashed by her dictator husband.
In Might, Syrian officers introduced that Asma had been recognized with leukemia, forcing her to quickly withdraw from public life.
Bashar’s workplace launched an announcement on the time, saying Asma was recognized with acute myeloid leukemia and can “adhere to a specialised remedy protocol that features stringent an infection prevention measures.
Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive most cancers of the bone marrow and the blood.
Asma was beforehand been handled for breast most cancers.
Fox Information Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and The Related Press contributed to this report.
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