Bashar al-Assad was never expected to rule Syria. That job was meant for his older brother, Basil, who trained as a military commander while Bashar studied to be an ophthalmologist. He wasn’t ...

One user wrote, “Dr. Assad will return to ophthalmology after being deposed as president of Syria and plans to set up an eye clinic in Russia.” There is no evidence for this claim. If he was ...

Bashar al-Assad was never meant to become president ... Bashar quit his studies in ophthalmology and left London, where he had met his wife, Asma, a British-Syrian and Sunni Muslim who worked ...

A former ophthalmologist who studied in London, Assad took power in an unopposed election following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who had led the Baath Party since seizing power in 1970.

On Jan. 1, 2025, several media outlets including Newsweek and The Sun reported on a supposed poison attack on the exiled former president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, who resides in Russia ...

From Donald Trump being shot at a campaign rally to Bashar al-Assad's shock overthrow, Newsweek writers on the moment of 2024: plus have your say. "I believe there will be violent fighting ...