Asma al-Assad, the wife of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has reportedly filed for divorce and is seeking to relocate to London.
Sources from Turkish and Arab media, as reported by the Jerusalem Post, indicate that Asma has submitted her divorce petition to a Russian court and is now awaiting approval to move to the UK.
Asma, who holds dual British-Syrian citizenship, spent much of her early life in London with her Syrian parents before moving to Syria in 2000, where she married Bashar al-Assad that same year.
The couple had met while Assad was studying in London, and Asma was working at JP Morgan.
In recent years, Asma has battled serious health issues, including two cancer diagnoses. She was diagnosed with leukemia in May 2024, having previously overcome breast cancer in 2019.
The reports of her divorce filing coincide with challenges faced by Bashar al-Assad, who is currently living under asylum in Russia.
He is reportedly prohibited from leaving Moscow or engaging in political activities, while Russian authorities have frozen his assets, which are said to include 270 kilograms of gold, $2 billion, and 18 apartments in Moscow.
The al-Assad regime, led by Bashar for over six decades, was ousted by rebel forces in early December under the leadership of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
