The British-born wife of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has no plans to seek a divorce, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.
Turkish media had reported that Asma al-Assad intended to end her marriage and leave Russia, where she and her husband have been residing since being granted asylum. This followed a rebel coalition’s overthrow of Assad’s regime, which resulted in the fall of Damascus.
During a press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed these reports, stating, “No, they do not correspond to reality.” He also refuted claims that Assad was confined to Moscow or that his property had been frozen.
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Russia, a staunch ally of Assad during Syria’s civil war, provided military support to his regime. However, Turkish media on Sunday alleged that the Assad family was living under strict restrictions in Moscow. The reports also claimed Mrs. Assad had filed for divorce and sought to return to London.
Although Asma al-Assad holds dual Syrian-British citizenship, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has previously stated that she would not be allowed back into Britain. Speaking in Parliament earlier this month, Lammy said, “She is a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” adding that he would take all necessary measures to prevent any member of the Assad family from entering the country.
In a statement attributed to Bashar al-Assad last week, the former president denied intending to flee Syria, saying he had been airlifted from a Russian military base at Moscow’s request.
Born in the UK to Syrian parents in 1975, Asma al-Assad grew up in Acton, west London. She moved to Syria in 2000 at the age of 25 and married Bashar al-Assad shortly after he succeeded his father as president.
As Syria’s first lady for 24 years, Mrs. Assad attracted significant attention in Western media. A controversial 2011 Vogue profile described her as “a rose in the desert” and “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies,” though the article was later removed from the magazine’s website.
Just a month after the article’s publication, she faced criticism for remaining silent as her husband violently suppressed pro-democracy protests at the onset of Syria’s civil war, a conflict that claimed nearly half a million lives. Bashar al-Assad was accused of deploying chemical weapons against civilians during the war.
In a 2016 interview with Russian state media, Mrs. Assad revealed she had rejected an offer for safe passage out of Syria, choosing instead to stay and support her husband.
In 2018, she announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and completed treatment the following year. More recently, in May of this year, she began treatment for leukemia, according to a statement from Bashar al-Assad’s office, which added that she would temporarily step back from public duties.
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