Bashar al-Assad recently lost control of his country, now he may be losing his wife too, various reports state.
According to reports in Turkish and Arabic media, British-born Asma al-Assad is allegedly filing for divorce and wants to leave Russia, where they were granted asylum after being ousted from power, for the UK.
The deposed couple have been living in Moscow since 8 December after fleeing the rebel advance, which in less than two weeks brought an end to more than five decades of Baathist rule and swept Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham into power.
But just weeks after leaving Syria, the former first lady is reportedly unhappy with life in the Russian capital and has applied to a local court to end her 24-year marriage, according to Turkish paper Haberturk.
Asma, a dual British-Syrian national, reportedly requested special permission from the Russian authorities to leave the country, the online news site states.
The 48-year-old former investment banker was born and raised in west London and moved to Syria in 2000 to marry Bashar after he succeeded his father, Hafez, as the country’s president. The family also still own the £1 million terrace house where Asma grew up.
The report also claimed that Moscow has placed strict controls on the Assads, freezing their assets and preventing them leaving the capital.
However, shortly after the reports circulated, they were refuted by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov who told reporters that "they do not correspond to reality".
Asma has been under UK sanctions since 2012 after the Assad regime brutally suppressed pro-democracy protests and attempts to return to the country is likely to be met with a firm official response.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has indicated that her days as a British national may be numbered, telling parliament earlier this month that she "is not welcome here in the UK".
The reports garnered a widespread reaction on social media sites, with UK officials weighing in.
"Please do come to the UK, prosecution for inciting, aiding and encouraging war crimes awaits you Asma," Alicia Kearns, the former chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, .
The former first lady is the subject of a preliminary war crimes probe opened by the Metropolitan Police in 2021. Should the Met decide to pursue a full investigation, she could be stripped of her citizenship and subject to an international arrest warrant.