Before becoming the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad had no intention of entering politics.

He studied ophthalmology in London during the 1990s and worked as an eye doctor. Initially, it was his older brother, Bassel al-Assad, who was groomed to succeed their father, Hafez al-Assad.

However, after Bassel's sudden death in a car accident in 1994, Bashar was called back to Syria and prepared to take over the regime. This unexpected shift took him from a career in medicine to becoming one of the world's most controversial leaders.