Bashar al-Assad Height, Weight, Age, Wife, Children

Bashar al-Assad is a Syrian politician who became the 19th president of Syria on July 17, 2000. He has also served as the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the secretary-general of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party. His regime has been described as a highly personalist dictatorship and has been accused of committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Ghouta chemical attack in August 2013.

Born Name

Bashar al-Assad

Nick Name

Bashar

Sun Sign

Virgo

Born Place

Damascus, Syria

Nationality

Education

Bashar al-Assad studied at the Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus and graduated high school in 1982. After that, he enrolled at Damascus University and studied medicine and graduated in 1988.

Occupation

Politician

Family

• Father – Hafez al-Assad (Politician, Military Officer, Revolutionary, Served as prime minister of Syria from 1970 to 1971, Served as the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000)
• Mother – Anisa Makhlouf (Matriarch of the Syrian Al-Assad family, First Lady of Syria from 1971 to 2000)
• Siblings – Bushra (Older Sister) (Died in infancy), Bushra al-Assad (Older Sister) (Has worked closely with their father Hafez al-Assad), Basil al-Assad (Older Brother; March 23, 1962 – January 21, 1994) (Engineer, Colonel, Equestrian, Politician), Majd al-Assad (Younger Brother) (Was intellectually disabled and died in 2009 after a “long illness”), Maher al-Assad (Younger Brother) (Syrian general and commander of the Republican Guard and the army’s elite Fourth Armoured Division)
• Others – Ali Sulayman al-Assad (Paternal Grandfather) (Farmer, Tribal Leader), Na’sa Shalish (Paternal Grandmother), Ahmed Makhlouf (Maternal Grandfather), Saada Sulayman al-Assad (Maternal Grandmother), Assef Shawkat (January 15, 1950 – July 18, 2012; Brother-In-Law) (Deputy Minister of Defense of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012), Manal al-Jadaan (Sister-In-Law), Anisa (Niece), Bushra (Niece), Bassel (Nephew), Hafez (Nephew), Fawaz Akhras (Father-In-Law) (Cardiologist at the Cromwell Hospital), Sahar Akhras (née Otri; Mother-In-Law) (Retired diplomat who served as First Secretary at the Syrian Embassy in London)

Build

Slim

Height

6 ft 2½ in or 189 cm

Weight

72 kg or 158.5 lbs

Girlfriend / Spouse

Bashar al-Assad has dated –

1. Asma Akhras (2000-Present) – He tied the knot with Asma Fawaz al-Assad (née Akhras) in December 2000 and she gave birth to their first child – a son named Hafez Bashar al-Assad – on December 4, 2001. The duo has also been blessed with 2 more children – a daughter named Zein (b. 2003) and another son named Karim (b. 2004). Later on, Bashar reported in an interview in January 2013 that Asma was pregnant with their 4th child but there was no update on the reported child’s birth.
2. Hadeel Ali (2011) – Bashar al-Assad hooked up with publicist Hadeel Ali in the year 2011.

Race / Ethnicity

White

Bashar al-Assad is of Alawite descent.

Hair Color

Salt and Pepper

Eye Color

Blue

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

Deep-set eyes

Religion

Islam

Bashar al-Assad Facts

1. In Arabic, his name means “the Lion”.
2. His father had been preparing Bashar’s older brother Bassel as the future president but after Bassel’s sudden demise in 1994, Bashar al-Assad public image was elevated as “the hope of the masses” in order to prepare him as the next patriarch in charge of Syria, to continue the rule of the Assad dynasty, and Bashar was named as the new heir apparent.
3. During the Syrian civil war, a disastrous chemical attack named the Ghouta chemical attack was carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the early hours of August 21, 2013, in Ghouta, Syria.
4. Apart from his mother tongue, he is well-versed in English as well as speaks conversational French.
5. Bashar al-Assad tested positive for COVID-19 on March 8, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic and it was reported that he was in good health with “minor symptoms”.
6. He has received criticism from left-wing activists and intellectuals worldwide.

Featured Image by leader.ir / mehrnews.com / CC BY 4.0 DEED