'Close to Death' Asma al-Assad Reportedly Wants UK Return

Wife of Syrian dictator given 50/50 survival chance

Asma al-Assad has an aggressive form of leukaemia. Picture: Facebook

December 26, 2024

Sources close to the family of Asma al-Assad are claiming that her health has deteriorated to the point where she only has a 50-50 chance of survival.

The 49-year-old wife of the former Syrian dictator who fled to Moscow after the fall of his regime, had already been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and the blood, but she is understood to be currently be in total isolation to reduce the risk of infection.

She is being cared for by her father, 78-year-old Fawaz Akhras, who vacated his home in North Acton around ten days before his son-in-law flew to Moscow.

Mrs al-Assad had been diagnosed with breast cancer previously but was given the all clear in 2019. Now her family are telling people that she may be close to dying although opponents of her regime in Syria claim this is just a play for sympathy with the aim of gaining a return to the UK on humanitarian grounds. The London-born former Twyford CofE School pupil has joint Syrian-British nationality.

She had already been receiving treatment in both the United Arab Emirates and Moscow over the last six months under the supervision of her father who is a cardiologist with a practice in Harley Street.

At the same time, reports have emerged in the Turkish press that Mrs al-Assad wanted a divorce due to unhappiness with her husband and the family’s exile in Moscow. She is also said to be hoping for a better standard of treatment in the UK than she is currently receiving. These reports have been denied by the Kremlin’s press spokesman although there has been no comment from the family.

The UK Foreign Secretary has already said that, as a sanctioned individual, Mrs al-Assad, would not be welcome in the UK and that he would do ‘everything in his power’ to prevent any member of her family moving here. She has three adult children, two sons called Hafez (23) and Karim (19) and a daughter name Zein (21). Hafez was already studying for a PhD in maths at Moscow State University and is a fluent Russian speaker. The children and their mother were personally granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.

Asma al-Assad on an earlier visit to Moscow. Picture: Ammar Abd Rabbo

His grandfather, Fawaz Akhras, has denied being a part of the Assad regime in his native country saying that father-in-law is not a political position, but he has been placed under sanctions by the US along with his wife. He was responding to suggestions that his relationship with the regime should lead to him being struck off as a doctor. The US Treasury says he worked to get financial support for his son-in-law’s government, helped it avoid sanctions and worked in a diplomatic capacity for the regime, charges which are all denied by Dr Akhras. Emails intercepted by Syrian opposition groups back in 2012 showed him offering advice to Bashar al Assad on how to get more favourable media coverage of his crackdown following the Arab Spring protests.

Fawaz Akhras in his consulting room in Harley Street

His modest pebble-dashed family house on a street off the A40 Western Avenue has remained unoccupied for the last few weeks with Dr Akhras believed to have left at the beginning of December.

If he was to succeed in getting permission for his daughter to return to her former home and she survived her cancer, she may face criminal charges with the Metropolitan Police having opened a case against her for incitement of war crimes in 2021. Since then more evidence has emerged about atrocities committed by her husband's regime so any suggestion of a asylum being granted in the UK would cause a huge amount of controversy particular among Acton's large and diverse Syrian community, the majority of which were opposed to the al-Assad government.