Just a few months before the regime fell in Syria, first lady Asma al-Assad was shown on national TV. Perfectly styled and glamorous, she was hugging children in an orphanage. Since arriving in Syria in 2000, she had modeled herself on Princess Diana—at the height of Diana's fame when Asma was growing up in West London.
In the years that followed, Asma carefully crafted an image of herself as the nation’s mother, intent on helping ordinary Syrians and empowering young girls. And then the Arab Spring came. The West wondered how this "Desert Rose" could abide by the atrocities committed by her husband, Bashar, as he attacked his critics.
Behind the scenes of war, Syria’s first lady maneuvered herself to the apex of power. She controlled the levers of politics, the economy and, The Observer can report, presided over the kidnapping of children as a means of punishment and torture for political dissidents. All in the name of power and profit.
