21-year-old Zein, Bashar al-Assad’s top-secret daughter

“The next chapter of Assads. “Desert rose”, three willing children and a luxurious life.” So in a few words the British daily The Independent summarizes the future of Bashar al-Assad’s family, forced into exile after the fall of the Syrian regime. On Sunday, December 8, Russian news agencies confirmed the news. Bashar al-Assad and his family fled from Damascus. they are now in Moscow, where they received political asylum from the Russian authorities.

More than ever, the Assad clan is intriguing. Bachar himself, his wife Asma, as well as their three children, Hafez, Zain and Karim. Among these siblings, about whom the world knows little, Zayn, who was born in 2003, is the youngest and the only girl. As a child, he and his two brothers attended a Montessori school in Damascus, close to the family apartment.

“Strong Personality”

Zain was only 8 years old when the Arab Spring took place in 2011 and plunged Syria into civil war. Despite an armed conflict in which her father was accused by the United Nations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the little girl grew up in the luxury of palaces.

During these years he lived in Syria. Abroad? No one knows. In an Italian daily newspaper article Corriere della: It will be dated 2023, we read that “the girl has always lived in London with her mother Asma, attending elite schools and having a passion for Kashmir”. We also learned via Asma al-Assad’s Facebook post in January 2016 that Zayn has a “strong personality, is confident and warm.” Other than that, nothing has been leaked, which further adds to the mystery of the young woman.

Unlike his brothers, who will occasionally be exposed in public speeches or quoted by the pro-Bashar al-Assad regime, Zain leads a low-key existence away from the general commotion. Or just Zayn’s choice?In rare photos posted on her Instagram and a video showing her alongside her older brother Hafez at Damascus University, the 21-year-old is the spitting image of her mother Asma.

Summer stays in Russia

Since last week, Zain has taken refuge in Moscow with his parents and two brothers. A country and culture that they know well. First, Assad’s children have been studying Russian for years. In July 2017, Bashar al-Assad sent them to Crimea, a Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014, Reuters reported in April 2018, referring to the Russian Ria Novosti agency.

“Hafez (16), Zain (14) and Karim (13) are staying at Artek, a former Soviet-era pioneer camp that has recently been renovated at a cost of $120 million to accommodate children of all nationalities between the ages of 8 and 17,” he says. . part The Point: In an article titled “Pleasant holidays for Bashar al-Assad’s children”. “Besides Russian youth or [de jeunes] Artek, which hails from former USSR republics, also welcomes French, British or American teenagers who want to learn the Russian language and have a “powerful experience,” we read again. “It was a trip that allowed them to better discover Russia,” Bashar al-Assad revealed a few months later to a delegation of Russian parliamentarians who eventually spilled the beans. Apart from these “summer camps,” the lives of Assad’s children still remain a mystery .