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Born to Syrian-origin parents in Britain, Asma al-Assad is now the First Lady of Syria, through her marriage to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In 2021, an investigation related to her alleged involvement in war crimes in Syria was opened, which if proven could strip her of her British citizenship.
A 3rd-century queen of the Roman colony of Palmyra, which is in present-day Syria, Zenobia took over as the regent of her son, Wahballat, after the assassination of her husband, Odaenathus. She conquered Egypt and much of Asia Minor. Though she declared her independence from Rome, she was defeated eventually.
A pioneering Arab feminist and romantic poet, May Ziadeh was a major figure of the Nahda, or the Arab Enlightenment of the 20th century. She initially mostly wrote in French, using the pseudonym Isis Copia, while she later drifted toward Arabic. Al-Mûsawât and Sawâneh fatât remain 2 of her best-known works.
