Who is the British-born wife of Bashir al-Assad and could she now return to the UK?

With the fall of the regime in Syria, Bashar al-Assad fled the country with his family to Moscow, where they are understood to have been granted political asylum by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Al-Assad's stunning fall from power after a lightning offensive by different rebel forces saw the government lose control of most of the country in less than a week.

It brings to an end a major phase of the Syrian civil war but as the different rebel groups now look to what the future means many will be asking: Will Assad ever see justice for the crimes committed against his people?

Throughout the civil war, Assad was accused of committing war crimes and through all that time his British-born wife Asma stayed by his side.

Who is Asma al-Assad?

Asma al-Assad was born in London to Syrian parents and raised in West Acton.

Her father, Sahar Al-Akhras, was a Harley Street consultant and her mother, Fawaz Al-Akhras, served as first secretary at the Syrian embassy in London. Both are originally from Homs in Syria.

Asma attended an independent girls' school in London before graduating from King's College London with a first-class degree in Computer Science and a Diploma in French Literature in 1996.

She met Assad while she was studying in 1992 after he moved to the UK to study ophthalmology.

In 1997, she started working for the forerunner of Deutsche Bank as an analyst before moving to the investment division of JP Morgan a year later.

Her career in banking came to an abrupt end two years later when, in December 2000, she married Bashar al-Assad, who had become President of Syria earlier that year.

The pair have three children Hafez and Zein who are in their early 20s and Karim who is 19.

Due to her Western appearance and education, she was briefly viewed as a potential reformer for Syria and many placed hopes on her to lighten the repressive regime.

But those hopes faded fast and she quickly fell in line behind her husband who maintained the authoritarian state of his father.

This did not stop her status as a British national from helping her be a key player in the West's attempts to court Syria leading to her meeting the Queen and Tony Blair several times.

She came under intense scrutiny when the civil war broke out in 2011 and soon after she effectively disappeared from the public eye.

She issued her only major comment on the civil war in 2012, nearly a year after fighting had broken out in an email to The Times.

After the outbreak of the war, Asma al-Assad was sanctioned by the EU (report from March 23, 2012)

She said: "The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role."

Asma repeated her support for charities she had been engaged with before the civil war and said works with "victims of the violence."

Although rarely seen in public she reportedly grew a significant powerbase within Syria over the course of the civil war with several of the charities she worked with gaining access to senior levels of government and representation in the Syrian parliament.

Her private lifestyle was laid bare in a series of emails that were leaked to the Guardian in 2012, which revealed her love of expensive furniture, fine jewellery and Christian Louboutin shoes.

In one email she was reported to have ordered £30,000 worth of furniture and candlesticks from a Paris boutique.

In 2019 she was treated for breast cancer, which she was declared free of in 2020.

Information about the treatment was published on Syrian government social media accounts, something that is unusual in Muslim countries where cancer is considered taboo.

In May 2024 it was announced she had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The government said she would be stepping back from work while she underwent treatment.

In December 2024 she fled Syria with her family and landed in Russia.

Could she claim asylum in the UK?

As a full British citizen, she has the right to live in the country and would not need to apply for asylum, which is reserved for foreign nationals.

As long as she holds a valid passport technically she should face no impediment when entering the country, although due to her notoriety, the British government would likely intervene.

She faced numerous calls for her citizenship to be stripped during the civil war but the government didn't act on it.

Her husband is wanted in numerous countries, including France, for crimes against humanity and they would likely request access to her for questioning.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…