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 titled “A Rose in the Desert,” and in the words of Joan Juliet Buck, the writer, Asma was “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies”.
Cut to 2024, the Assad dynasty has fallen. Asma, once the “rose” of what was a brutal presidency overseeing the killings of 580,000 people — nearly half of them civilians — has filed for a divorce. Ms Buck, in her recent writing, described her 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 sought special permission from Russian authorities to leave the country and return to the United Kingdom.
Asma, who holds British citizenship, has been declared by UK officials as “no longer welcome” in the country citing sanctions imposed in 2012 due to her ties to her husband’s regime. Her reputation deteriorated for standing by Bashar during Syria’s civil war, drawing accusations of war profiteering and benefiting from foreign aid through her charity.
Who is 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 holds 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 J.P. Morgan.
As Syria’s First Lady, she was known for promoting women’s rights and social development initiatives, including the Syria Trust for Development. These efforts, however, ceased with the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Asma faced EU sanctions prohibiting financial assistance and restricting travel due to her ties to the Assad regime. She was also the subject of a UK inquiry into war crimes, including allegations of supporting torture and chemical weapon use. She was facing potential terrorism charges.
The 48-year-old is a cancer survivor and was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia 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, as her family frequently visited from the UK. Their relationship deepened when Bashar moved to London in 1992 to train as an ophthalmologist at the Western Eye Hospital. The couple married in 2000, shortly after Bashar assumed the presidency following his father’s death. They have three children together: Hafez, Zein, and Karim.
How the Assad dynasty fell
Bashar al-Assad’s rule, which relied heavily on an inner circle of family members, saw its end after over five decades of Alawite domination in a predominantly Sunni nation. The family’s fortunes took a sharp turn after rebel forces breached Damascus, forcing Assad to flee and effectively ending the regime’s decades-long grip on power in Syria.
