ALBAWABA - According to The Independent, the family of overthrown Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is living in luxury in Moscow, Russia, after decades of preparation. Syria struggles with economic and political breakdown.
The paper showed how the Assad family portrayed itself as a contemporary, moral family fit to run Syria, gaining regional and international support.
The Assad family—Hafez, Zein, and Karim—and their mother, Asma, own at least 20 $40 million luxury properties, according to media sources. These properties are in Moscow's luxury tower complexes. It's estimated that the family has over $2 billion in accounts and sham corporations in tax havens.
Bashar al-Assad, an ophthalmologist in London before becoming president, and Asma, from West London, portrayed their rule as modern and compassionate.
The investigation also showed how Asma al-Assad's lavish lifestyle and Western lifestyle helped her propaganda. She recruited British PR company Brown Lloyd James to boost her media presence. She charmed Western journalists, who praised her humanitarian activity and powerful personality.
Asma posted an idealized family photo on social media during the Syrian revolution, when many died.
She posted on Facebook: “Hafez, 14, shares his mother’s love of technology and is now as tall as his father. He's learning Russian. Karim, 11, is enthusiastic and learning Chinese like his mother and family sports star. Zein, 12, is learning Spanish and is strong, confident, and warm like her parents.
According to the story, Bashar's son Hafez expressed "gratitude to the martyrs of his homeland" while delivering a mathematics thesis at Moscow State University last month. After the Assad family's leadership in Syria, which has suffered greatly, ended, Hafez is “not yet ready to inherit power from his father” at 23.
