The Scotsman Wed 18 Dec 2002

Introducing Asma

Stephen Mansfield

As a little girl "Emma" Akhras watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace with the same sense of excitement and wonder as any other little English girl. The thought that one day she would accompany her husband on an official visit to the Queen never crossed her mind. Yet yesterday afternoon as Mrs Asma Assad, the First Lady of Syria, she joined her husband, President Assad and followed in the foot steps of so many other wives of important men. To her many fans, she is nothing more than a brighter future for the Middle East. A bridge between two diverse cultures. The British born and educated banker is now devoted to aiding her husband as he attempts to lead Syria into the 21st century. While protests still echo around the country at Syria’s support for Islamic terrorists and the country’s alleged arming of Iraq, the image of her walking confidently beside Cherie Blair, casual in western clothes is being read as a positive symbol.

n just two years she has emerged as a most glamorous companion for her husband, a man more comfortable with books than people. As President Assad struggles to reform a nation stagnating both economically and politically, the legacy of his late father’s decades of misrule, his new wife is being portrayed as his most valuable aide.

The journey to First Lady of Syria and tea at Buckingham Palace began in the suburbs of Acton, where little Asma Akhras was born in August, 1975 to Dr Fawaz Akhras, a heart specialist and his wife, Sahar. The couple were both Syrian but had moved to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s so that Fawaz Akhras could achieve his goal of a prized British education. Although the couple would go on to build their life in Britain where Dr Akhras has excelled in his profession, their indigenous culture remained crucial to them. At home Arabic was spoken, as Asma recalled: "I didn’t realise until I was seven that they could actually speak English." While at home Asma spoke her parent’s native tongue, beyond the family’s standard semi-detached home, with its traditional white trimmed door and net curtains she was the epitome of the little English girl.

To her friends she was Emma and while raised Muslim, she attended a Church of England school, Twyford High, for two years before she began travelling to central London where she attended Queen’s College School on Harley Street. While other teenage girls frittered their time away in the pursuit of boys and make-up, "Emma" had little interest in either, instead she focused on hitting the books and devoted her leisure time to horse-riding and computing. As her old computer teacher recalled: "She was an incredibly bright and diligent girl and I have a clear memory of her staying behind after classes to do her homework." True relaxation would come during the family’s annual holidays back in Syria. Although her teachers felt she had an aptitude for the profession and even went as far as offering her a job, Asma’s goals were so much greater.

Mrs. Asma Al-Assad, October 21, 2004, received Honorary Doctorate from the prestigious University of Rome "La Sapienza in Archaeology for the development of historical and archaeological studies in Syria

In her acceptance speech of the Doctorate, Mrs. al-Assad said: I stand here today in this cultural exchange, proud to accept this doctorate in archaeology, Honoris Causa, not only on my own behalf, but on behalf of my country, and on behalf of the people who have inhabited this land from the earliest flowering of those essential human attributes: " culture," " society" and " civilization." I am proudly grateful for the dedication of the Italian and Syrian archaeologists, who have worked at this site for forty years and have enabled Syria's contributions to advancements in archaeology and its role in history to be fully recognized.

Fourth Thousand years ago. When human civilization was in its infancy, Ebla was one of the only a handful of urban centers that dotted the world, acting as an engine of economic growth and social development drawing people from the countryside. Today, it is a significant archaeological site and a priceless part of Syrian heritage. In the near future, it is poised to become a rural community reinvigorated, economically and socially, by the presence of Ebla archaeological park, a project that meets two important objectives: historical and archaeological research and preservation, and rural regeneration.

Syria's First Lady Wants New Conversation With West

Educated Assad Works With Charities, Takes Children to School

Feb. 6, 2007 — - Her husband, the president of Syria, is crazy about her. Asma Akhras Al-Assad is the first lady of Syria.

Her Syrian title is "al akilatu al rais" -- simply translated to "the president's wife." But make no mistake, this beautiful, athletic woman is a force for her country's future.

"Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer first saw her at one of her charity projects called Basma, which means "smile" in Arabic. The charity supports a cancer center.

She sent word she was not ready to give on-camera interviews, but greeted the crew warmly and in her perfect British English ventured a statement about the cause.

"A real example of the way that Syrians from all walks of life have come together and taken responsibility and making a real difference in their communities," Assad said.

Later, Sawyer met her at one of her private offices overlooking Damascus at sunset, where the pair sat for two hours, talking about Assad's country in the new century and her life.

She grew up very much part of two worlds. Born in Britain, she is the daughter of a Syrian cardiologist and speaks perfect Arabic, French and Spanish.

After college she says she loved working on Wall Street in New York and in Paris and London as a banker with J.P. Morgan. She was contemplating an MBA at Harvard.

In 2000, she decided to marry a family acquaintance -- a tall quiet man who happened to be Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

After the private wedding, she spent three months out of view, traveling quietly, sometimes anonymously in jeans and a T-shirt, to meet the people of her country, take note of hopes and needs, sit among the farmers to ask about their crops and devise plans for microloans she passionately tries to promote today.

Her official introduction to the world came when she and her husband returned to England to meet the queen.

The couple famously lives in a modest home with three children that they drive to school themselves. They still protect family dinners and even bike through villages. She has already begun programs to excite Syria's children about business and challenge them to compete in a global world.

"She's an amazing woman. Ever since she got here she got deep into things in every single sector," said Thala Khair, founder of a Syrian private school. "As much as she's working for women's rights, she's working on children's rights and culture."

The cancer center where we first met her is breaking ground in Syria -- the private and public sector working together. The children show her pictures they drew in therapy -- drawings with names like "magic."

So while the world debates the intentions of her husband on the world's stage, the two of them remain symbols of a new generation in the Middle East. The former doctor and the former banker were schooled in England, are steeped in Syria and, she might say, are asking the West for a new conversation about a new day.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

The Syrian First Lady, Mrs. Asma Al-Assad inaugurates a Syrian Youth Project, Aleppo, Northern Syria, July 24, 2007. “ The Project, code-named “YOUTH” is one of the promising projects availing the Syrian Youth the opportunity as benefit from the experience and experts of the would-be comers into business world, enabling for the creation of job opportunities in different fields, conducive to the youth vocational desires.” said Mrs. Al-Assad.

Mrs. Al-Assad the chairperson of the Syrian General Secretariat of Development, the founder of FIRDOS, the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria