While the country they created is ravaged by civil war, the men who built today's Syrian regime - along with their families - are living a very different reality.

Sleeping safely in their London and Paris mansions and driving their luxurious supercars, they enjoy a life far removed from that of most Syrian civilians.

They are the lucky relatives of the three men who helped to establish the Assad clan's rule in Syria, starting with Hafez al-Assad's coup in 1970.

As Aleppo burns, Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of current Syrian president Bashar, moves between his nine-bedroom house in Mayfair, London, and a property in Marbella's exclusive Gray D-Albion estate.

The French probe also asks questions as to why the British government has not itself examined the coming and goings of Mr Al-Assad and his sons.

Mr Al-Assad has vehemently denied acquiring assets in France through illegal means.

A judge in Paris, named Renaud Van Ruymbeke, has frozen his French assets - mostly tied up in property and thought to be worth around £80 million.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, spoke to Michael Sheridan, who undertook a special investigation on behalf of .

He said: 'Rifaat al-Assad, Mustafa Tlass and Abdel Halim Khaddam were the kingpins and founding godfathers of the brutal Assad regime that has decimated Syria for decades.

'Having fleeced Syria for so much wealth, it is galling to Syrians to see them flaunt their ill-gotten millions all across Europe while millions of Syrians languish in refugee camps.'