Asada

Assad graduated from King’s College London in 1996 with a asada’s degree in computer science and French literature. First Secretary at the Syrian Embassy in London. She grew up in Acton, London, where she went to Twyford Church of England High School and later a private girls’ school, Queen’s College, London.

After graduating from King’s College London, she started work as an economics analyst at Deutsche Bank Group in the hedge fund management division with clients in Europe and East Asia. She was about to pursue an MBA at Harvard University when, on holiday at her aunt’s in Damascus in 2000, she was reacquainted with Bashar al-Assad, a family friend. After Hafez al-Assad’s death in June 2000, Bashar took over the presidency. Asma moved to Syria in November 2000 and married Bashar in December of that year. The marriage surprised many since there had been no media reports of their dating and courtship prior to the wedding. After the wedding, Asma travelled throughout Syria to 100 villages in 13 of the 14 Syrian governorates to speak with Syrians and learn where she should direct her future policies. Described by media analysts as an important part of the public relations effort of the Syrian government in her tenure as First Lady, Assad was credited with taking progressive positions on women’s rights and education.

A serious blow has been dealt to her public image since the Syrian Civil War intensified in early 2012, as the First Lady was criticised for remaining silent throughout the beginning of the Syrian uprising. On 23 March 2012, the European Union froze her assets and placed a travel ban on her and President Bashar al-Assad’s other close family members as part of escalating sanctions against the Syrian government. On 16 April 2012, Huberta von Voss Wittig and Sheila Lyall Grant, the wives of the German and British ambassadors to the United Nations, released a four-minute video asking Assad to stand up for peace and urge her husband to end the bloodshed in her country. She had not been seen in public regularly since the July 2012 bombing of the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate, leading to press speculation that she had fled the capital or the country.

Her charity Syria Trust for Development had become active again, and she began to move members of said body into more influential positions. In February 2011, Vogue published “A Rose in the Desert”, a flattering profile of Assad by veteran fashion writer Joan Juliet Buck. The article was later removed from Vogue’s website without editorial comment that spring. In July 2012, Buck wrote another article for The Daily Beast giving an extremely critical account of Assad. I didn’t want to write the piece.

But I always finished what I started. I handed it in on 14 January, the day President Ben Ali fled Tunisia. The Arab Spring is spreading,’ I told American Vogue on 21 January. You might want to hold the piece. Assad and her husband have three children. Their first child, a son named Hafez after Hafez al-Assad, was born in 2001, followed by their daughter Zein in 2003, and their second son Karim in 2004. Assad enjoys theatre, opera and visiting the cinema.