New Delhi:
In December 2010 and the following months, demonstrations against corruption, poverty and political repression took Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria by storm. Around the same time in 2011, Vogue magazine published a profile on Asma al-Assad, the wife of then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It was entitled “A Rose in the Desert”, and in the words of Joan Juliet Buck, the writer, Asma was “the freshest and most magnetic of the first ladies”.
Cut to 2024, the Assad dynasty has fallen. Asma, once the ‘rose’ of what was a ruthless presidency that oversaw the murders of 580,000 people – almost half of them civilians – has filed for divorce. Mrs. Buck described her in her recent writing as “first lady of hell.”
Reports from Turkish and Arab media suggest that she has been living in Moscow with her husband and their three children. Asma has asked Russian authorities for special permission to leave the country and return to Britain.
Asma, who has British citizenship, has been declared “no longer welcome” in the country by British officials, citing sanctions imposed in 2012 over her ties to her husband’s regime. Her reputation deteriorated after she supported Bashar during Syria’s civil war, facing accusations of war profiteering and profiting from foreign aid through her charity.
More about Asma al-Assad
Asma Akhras (as she was known before marriage) was born on August 11, 1975 in London to Syrian parents from Homs. She has dual British-Syrian citizenship.
She attended Twyford Church of England High School and Queen’s College in London. She graduated from King’s College London in 1996 with a degree in computer science and French literature.
She worked as an analyst at Deutsche Bank and later at JP Morgan.
As Syrian First Lady, she was known for promoting women’s rights and social development initiatives, including the Syria Trust for Development. However, these efforts stopped with the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.
Asma faced EU sanctions banning financial aid and restricting travel because of her ties to the Assad regime. She was also the subject of a British war crimes investigation, including allegations of supporting torture and the use of chemical weapons. She faced possible terrorism charges.
The 48-year-old is a cancer survivor and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May. She previously battled breast cancer in 2018 and underwent chemotherapy in Syria.
How did Asma and Bashar al-Assad meet?
Asma and Bashar al-Assad met during her childhood holidays in Syria, when her family regularly visited from Britain. Their relationship deepened when Bashar moved to London in 1992 to train as an ophthalmologist at Western Eye Hospital. The couple married in 2000, shortly after Bashar assumed the presidency following the death of his father. They have three children together: Hafez, Zein and Karim.
How the Assad Dynasty fell
Bashar al-Assad’s rule, which relied heavily on a small circle of relatives, came to an end after more than five decades of Alawite rule in a predominantly Sunni nation. The family’s fortunes took a sharp turn after rebels pushed into Damascus, forcing Assad to flee and ending the regime’s decades-long hold on power in Syria.