By newsfirstusa 
Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Russia over the weekend, finishing a just about 14-year effort to preserve energy in his nation amid a civil conflict that become a battlefield for world and regional powers.
However the Assad family got here to grasp during the information of conflict in Syria used to be no longer who some anticipated when he got here to energy.
Get up to Energy
Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, have been cultivating Bashar’s oldest brother Basil as his successor. In 1994, Basil used to be killed in a automobile collision in Damascus. Bashar used to be after introduced house from his ophthalmology observe in London and put thru army coaching, the place he used to be increased to the rank of colonel to offer him the credentials to at least one future rule Syria.
Hafez dominated Syria for almost 30 years, all the way through which he established a Soviet-style centralized financial system. He additionally shaped 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 outlet rite 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 the use of Getty Photographs)
When Hafez died in 2000, the rustic’s parliament diminished the presen requirement to develop into president from 40 to 34, and thru a national referendum, Bashar changed into president, having been the one candidate.
Bashar to start with gave the impression the other of his father. When Bashar got here to energy, he spoke with a tiny lisp, used to be towering, lanky, peace and had a tender demeanor. His simplest reliable place prior to turning into president used to be the pinnacle of the Syrian Laptop People, so family believed he used to be a geeky tech-savvy fan of computer systems with a tender demeanor.
Bashar additionally freed political prisoners and allowed extra not hidden discourse.
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FILE – This April 13, 2016 report photograph excepted at the reliable Fb web page of Syrian Presidency, presentations Syrian President Bashar Assad casting his poll within the parliamentary elections, as his spouse Asma, left, stands after to him, in Damascus, Syria. (Syrian Presidency by the use of AP, Record)
Syria’s Princess Diana?
A number of months later taking place of business, Bashar married Asma al-Akhras, a British-born girl who is understood for being sexy and trendy. The 2 ultimately had 3 youngsters.
The couple lived in an condo within the upscale group of Abu Rummaneh in Damascus, versus a mansion like alternative Arab leaders.
Asma, who used to be born in Acton, West London, to Sunni Muslims from Homs, Syria, changed into referred to as Syria’s Princess Diana.
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Syrian First Girl Asma al-Assad attends the harvest of Damascena (Damask) roses within the village of al-Marah, within the Damascus geographical region, on Would possibly 25, 2023. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP by the use of Getty Photographs)
She received levels in laptop science and French literature at Queen’s Faculty London and got into banking, running as a hedge budget analyst.
She married Bashar in a “secret” wedding ceremony in 2000 when he used to be 35, and she or he used to be simply 25.
As Bashar endured to rule, issues started to modify.
Converting Instructions
In 2005, Bashar suffered a dissipate with the lack of Syria’s decades-long regulate over neighboring Lebanon later the assassination of former Top Minister Rafik Hariri. Many in Lebanon accused Bashar of being in the back of the homicide. Syria used to be compelled to take out its troops from Lebanon and a pro-American govt got here to energy.
All over the similar date, the Arab global crack into two – one facet used to be U.S.-allied and incorporated Sunni-led nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, future the alternative facet consisted of Syria and Iran, in conjunction with their connections to Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad arrives in Jeddah, to wait the Arab League peak please see future, Saudi Arabia, Would possibly 18, 2023.
Bashar appointed folk contributors to key roles, future additionally giving entrusted roles to Asma.
In 2011, rulers in Tunisian and Egypt had been toppled through protesters, regardless that Bashar brushed aside that it might additionally occur in Syria.
His safety forces staged a brutal crackdown future Bashar denied he confronted a prevailing insurrection. In lieu, he blamed “foreign-backed terrorists” for seeking to destabilize his regime.
The rebellion spiraled into civil war with tens of millions of Syrians absconding to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Europe.
In March 2011, Trend brochure printed a profile on Asma, calling her a “Rose in the Desert” and “the very freshest and most magnetic of first ladies.” The item, which described the Assads as “wildly democratic” and portrayed them as ambitious and clever, used to be in line with an interview performed in past due 2010. It used to be pulled from the web weeks later its e-newsletter, as Assad’s bloody crackdown on Syrian dissidents used to be neatly underneath approach.
“Subsequent to our interview, as the terrible events of the past year and a half unfolded in Syria, it became clear that its priorities and values were completely at odds with those of Vogue,” the brochure’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, mentioned on the date.
Magnificent Spending
In 2012, Wikileaks printed non-public emails from the 42-year-old Brit appearing she blew thru $350,000 on 130 items of furnishings when the rustic’s civil conflict have been raging for one yr.
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Syria’s First Girl Asma al-Assad takes phase in a commencement rite of year lecturers of a Syrian Organisation for Individuals with Disabilities, in Damascus on December 3, 2018. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP by the use of Getty Photographs)
The printed emails additionally reportedly confirmed she additionally purchased a couple 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 through Eastern architect Kenzo Tange – is believed to have price $1 billion.
In 1989, the Washington Post reported {that a} unmarried room used to be fitted with 125,000 Italian marble tiles at a price of $85 according to tile. The overall price spent on a unmarried room used to be about $10.6 million.
At the similar future her husband is thought to have dropped sarin fuel on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, Asma posted a photograph of herself dressed in a sublime polka-dotted get dressed, reputedly deep in idea and smiling.
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Asma’s social media posts depicted her as a humanitarian, decorated with footage of the primary woman studying to youngsters and embracing the folk of a Syrian who used to be killed within the society’s civil conflict – all with the gentle hashtag #WeLoveYouAsma.
The footage are a stark distinction to those on information channels that confirmed Syrian youngsters mendacity useless within the streets later choking on poison fuel that the U.S. and its allies mentioned used to be unleashed through her dictator husband.
In Would possibly, Syrian officers introduced that Asma have been recognized with leukemia, forcing her to briefly pull out of family generation.
Bashar’s place of business excepted a observation on the date, pronouncing Asma used to be recognized with acute myeloid leukemia and can “adhere to a specialized treatment protocol that includes stringent infection prevention measures.
Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and the blood.
Asma was previously been treated for breast cancer.
Fox News Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and The Associated Press contributed to this report.