Alert – Inside Bashar al-Assad’s rise to Syrian president: From London eye doctor to brutal dictator

The dramatic downfall of Syria’s iron-fisted leader Bashar al-Assad marks an end to over 50 years of his family’s brutal rule.

Rebel forces ousted the dictator after taking control of the capital, Damascus, on Sunday – the latest chapter in a bloody civil war that started in 2011 and saw the country become a hub for extremist group ISIS.

Assad – who is now believed to be in Russia with his family after being granted asylum by Putin – ruled Syria for 24 years, just five short of of his father’s time in power. But it was never intended for him to take control of the dynasty.

Before his political career began, Assad was based in London, where he met his wife and worked as an ophthalmologist.

But a devastating family tragedy which saw his elder brother die suddenly would throw a spanner in the works and bring Assad back to Syria where he began his brutal reign, despite his lack of military or political experience.

His forces have since been accused of severe human rights violations and cruel assaults against civilians throughout the 13-year civil war, including the use of chemical weapons against their own people.

The heavily Western-sanctioned and internationally isolated regime has clung to power until now, thanks to opposition forces reaching Damascus and recapturing areas on the outskirts of the capital following a years-long siege.

Bahsar al-Assad ruled Syria for 24 years, just five short of of his father’s time in power, but it was never intended for Assad to take control of the dynasty

Early years as an eye doctor

Before Assad took control of Damascus, he was an eye doctor in London. 

He received his early education in Damascus and studied medicine at the University of Damascus, graduating as an ophthalmologist in 1988.

Assad then served as an army doctor at a Damascus military hospital and in 1992 moved to London to continue his studies.

The only official position he held in his home country was the head of the Syrian Computer Society.

During his time in the UK capital, Assad met his future wife, Asma Akhras, a former investment banker at JPMorgan who grew up in Acton, west London.

Four years after the pair met, they married in Syria in the same year he took over control of the county – following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who died aged 69.

Assad was thrown into the political fray in 1994 after his older brother – and heir to the presidency – Bassel was killed in a car crash in Damascus.

The eye doctor was called back to Syria where he would be prepared through the country’s intense military training to take on the role as leader.

After gruelling training at a military academy, Assad eventually went on to gain the rank of colonel in the elite Republican Guard.

But there was never any question around who would take over, as when Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, parliament rushed to lover the presidential age from 40 to 34.

His rise to president was then confirmed after a nationwide referendum placed him as the only candidate for the role.

Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad pose during a visit to the Great Wall of China at Badaling on June 22, 2004

For years Asma was the face of female liberation in the Middle East; with her successful career in banking and her secular British upbringing

The pair married in Syria in the same year Assad took over control of the county – following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who died aged 69

A picture believed to be showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wearing only speedos is taken by Rebels following the capture of his palace in Aleppo

The images of Assad wearing speedos has generated ridicule on social media

The optimism for reform

After the death of his father, Assad was 10 days later appointed secretary-general of the ruling Ba’ath Party, and two days after that, the party congress nominated him as its candidate for the presidency.

Less than a month later, running unopposed, Assad was elected to a seven-year term.

Although many Syrians objected to the transfer of power from father to son, Assad’s ascent initially gained optimism both in Syria and internationally.

His youth, education, and exposure to the West appeared to offer the potential of a departure from what the country had been subject to – an authoritarian state policed by a network of powerful security and intelligence agencies.

In his inaugural speech, Assad reassured citizens of his commitment to economic liberalisation and promised to carry out a political reform – but he rejected a Western-style democracy as am appropriate model for Syrian politics. 

Assad began his presidency with promises to fight corruption and open up to the media.

He quickly freed political prisoners and allowed for a more open discourse, and in the Damascus Spring, hubs appeared for intellectuals to discuss the arts, culture, and politics.

But these did not last long after 1,000 intellectuals signed a public petition calling for multiparty democracy and greater freedoms in 2001.

Assad continued to lift economic restrictions, let in foreign banks, and made way for imports while bolstering the private sector.

Syrian cities went on to see a rise in shopping outlets and new eateries as tourism levels rose throughout the nation.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Assad during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 24, 2024

Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami (R) welcomes Assad (L) at the Saad Abad palace in Tehran on July 4, 2004

Syrian President Assad (L) talks to hisTunisian counterpart Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at the opening session of the Arab Summit in Damascus on March 29, 2008

Foreign policy 

Abroad, Assad maintained his father’s hard-line stance in Syria’s decades-long conflict with Israel – insisting on a full return of the Israel-annexed Golan Heights.

In 2004, the United Nations Security Council ordered Syria to end its occupation of neighbouring Lebanon, leaving Assad to choose between complying or ignoring the demand. 

He decided to comply and in turn ruin some of his father’s legacy which left his family angered.

Assad became a key component in Iran’s Axis of Resistance, allowing Iranian military forces to operate virtually unimpeded from Iran to Lebanon.

The leader then began to believe that the West was weak, deciding the more he demonstrated strength, the more he would achieve.

In early 2005, after the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafic al-Hariri, Assad – under pressure from Western and Arab nations – committed to the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, where they had been stationed since a 1976 military intervention.

When Hariri was killed by a bomb while driving in Beirut, the Syrian government was blamed and a pro-American government came into power there instead.

Assad became a key component in Iran’s Axis of Resistance, allowing Iranian military forces to operate virtually unimpeded from Iran to Lebanon

The Syrian Civil War 

Some years after turning his back on his father’s legacy, Assad would embrace his brutal tactics when protests erupted against his rule in March 2011, during the Arab Spring.

While Syrian security forces used lethal force against demonstrators, Assad offered a variety of concessions, first shuffling his cabinet and then announcing that he would seek to abolish Syria’s emergency law and its Supreme State Security Court, both of which were used to suppress political opposition. 

However, implementation of those reforms coincided with a significant escalation of violence against protesters, drawing international condemnation for Assad and his government.

Deep levels of unrest spread around the country which led the government to deploy tanks and troops to several cities that had become centres of protest.

In May 2011, then US President Barack Obama said Assad’s regime had ‘chosen the path of murder and the mass arrests of its citizens’ and called on him to lead a democratic transition ‘or get out of the way.’ 

By September 2011, armed opposition groups had emerged and began launching attacks against Syrian forces.

Protesters in the southern city of Daraa were shot dead by government forces which sparked nationwide unrest.  

Attempts at international mediation by the Arab League and the United Nations then proved to be unsuccessful as by mid-2012, the crisis had evolved into a full-blown civil war.

This would then go on to become world’s largest refugee crisis, according to the UN, with more than 14million Syrians forced to flee their homes in search of safety.

A giant portrait of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad sets on a building, as empty streets seen in Damascus, Syria

Displaced Syrian Kurds ride vehicles loaded with belongings on the Aleppo-Raqqa highway as they flee areas on the outskirts of the northern city of Aleppo which were formerly controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), after they were seized by Islamist-led rebels on December 2, 2024

Syrians in Lebanon flock to the Masnaa Border between Lebanon and Syria to return home

Assad’s atrocities 

In 2013, UN weapons inspectors returned ‘overwhelming and indisputable’ evidence of the use of nerve gas in Syria. 

Assad faced calls for international military action against his government after the alleged chemical weapons attacks in the suburbs of Damascus.

Then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the August 21 attack ‘the worst use of weapons of mass destruction in the 21st century.’

The United States said that attack may have killed more than 1,400, including hundreds of civilians. 

The Syrian opposition accused pro-Assad forces of having carried out the attacks, but Assad denied having used chemical weapons and asserted that, if such weapons had been used, rebel forces were to blame. 

Assad’s tactics against the rebels continued to draw international condemnation even when his forces refrained from using chemical weapons.

So-called ‘barrel bombs’ – dropped from helicopters and airplanes – were routinely used to devastating effect against military and civilian targets in rebel-held areas even though human rights groups insisted that employment of such indiscriminate weapons constituted as a war crime.

There have also been widespread reports of rape, beheadings, and torture.

Assad was propped up largely thanks to Russia – who stepped in to carry out decisive airstrikes in 2015 – and Iran, who both backed Syria militarily.

In 2020, Moscow backed a government offensive, which ended with a ceasefire with Turkey and froze most front lines.

Syrian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The downfall

Many did not see the end of Assad’s reign appearing in the near future, but just as his fortunes relied heavily on Moscow and Tehran, so did his fate, tied to their geopolitical priorities.

With Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine lasting almost three years and Iran rocked by Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Syrian government’s defences were exposed.

Rebel forces launched an attack on the northern city of Aleppo, which the government has held since 2016, and within a matter of days had stormed the country.

The leader had vowed to retaliate, with the Syrian military claiming they were preparing a counter-offensive, but the rebels continued to sweep their way to the capital where Assad said he remained until Saturday evening.

Assad has not been seen in Damascus since the rebels gained full control, with Russian TASS news agency revealing he and members of his family arrived in Moscow on Sunday.

A Kremlin source told the outlet: ‘Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them asylum.’

Assad’s location was confirmed as Russian news agencies said Moscow had struck a deal with Syrian opposition leaders. 

A source said the rebels have guaranteed the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria. 

Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the downfall of Assad’s government with chants and prayers, but what comes next for the county, and who governs it, is yet to be seen.

Residents in Hama set ablaze a large banner bearing a picture of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad hanging on the facade of a municipal building

Rebel fighters stand on a military vehicle in Homs countryside, after Syrian rebels pressed their lightning advance on Saturday

An opposition fighter steps on a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus on December 8

People kick a poster depicting Syrian President al-Assad after Syria’s army command notified officers that his 24-year authoritarian rule has ended

People celebrate at Umayyad Square in Damascus on December 8, 2024, as rebel soldiers declare that they have taken the capital