Asma al-Assad, wife of ousted Syria president Bashar al-Assad, has filed for divorce and wants to relocate to London, as reported by the Jerusalem Post quoting Turkish and Arab media.
She is said to have filed the request in a Russian court and is awaiting approval to move to UK, after expressing her unhappiness with life in Moscow.
Asma holds dual British-Syrian citizenship and spent her formative years in London with her Syrian parents. She relocated to Syria in 2000, marrying Assad that same year when she was 25, according to BBC. She met Assad while he was studying in London while she was a British-Syrian Sunni Muslim working at JP Morgan.
The former Syrian first lady also had to face health struggles, having two brushes with cancer. She was reported to be diagnosed with leukemia in May this year after having beaten breast cancer in 2019.
The reports of divorce comes as Bashar al-Assad, being force to flee Syria, faces restrictions having been granted asylum in Russia. He cannot leave Moscow or participate in political activities. Russian authorities have frozen his assets, which reportedly include 270 kilograms of gold, $2 billion, and 18 Moscow apartments.
Bashar al-Assad was removed from power in early December by rebel forces under Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leadership. The Baath regime, which Assad led, held power for 61 years.