Asma al-Assad, the 49-year-old wife of Bashar al-Assad, used to be known as one of the biggest fashion icons of the Arab world, and with her modern styling, wherever she appeared, she always attracted attention. Daily Mail.

The former first lady of Syria was once called the "Desert Rose" or the "Arab Lady Di".

After the war broke out in Syria in 2011, Bashar's wife also began to get a bad reputation. The media wrote how she lives freely and carefree in luxury, while her compatriots suffer in military conditions.

Who is Asma al-Assad?

She was born in London as the daughter of a successful cardiologist and a senior Syrian diplomat, and was educated in prestigious schools.

Her upbringing was not very different from that of her peers in the British capital.

For years she has been a symbol of women's liberation in the Middle East thanks to her successful career in banking, as well as her secular British upbringing and elegant image.

Asma graduated in Computer Science and French Literature from King's College London in 1996 and began a career in investment banking at major firms including Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan. Four years later, she married Assad, 59, in Syria the same year he took control of the country after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who died aged 69.

They have three children together, two sons, Hafez and Karim, and a daughter, Zayn, and it is believed that they are now with their parents trying to find safe haven.

In February 2010, the world's most famous fashion magazine, Vogue, described Asma al-Assad as "the freshest and most magnetic first lady", but in 2012 they retracted that interview after public backlash over the war in Syria.

As her role in the Assad dictatorship grew, the image of her as a modern, progressive woman disintegrated.

By the way, as it was written, in May of this year, the Syrian authorities announced through a press release that the first lady Asma al-Assad has leukemia. She underwent a special treatment protocol that required isolation and therefore had to stop public activities. In August 2019, Asma announced that she had fully recovered from breast cancer, which she said was detected early.

Last year, she accompanied her husband on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, her first official trip abroad to accompany her husband since 2011.

In a few days, the Asads will celebrate their 24th wedding anniversary, but this time, judging by everything, the circumstances are completely different from previous years.