Asma al-Assad faces calls to be stripped of her UK citizenship

Asma al-Assad, the Syrian president’s British-born wife, is facing calls to be stripped of her UK citizenship after she was accused of propping up his propaganda operation.

Mrs Assad, a former investment banker who married Assad in 2000, has at least three official social media accounts under her name, which are used to praise the Syrian regime’s “martyrs” and attack the West. The first lady is followed by more than 500,000 followers on Instagram, Facebook and Telegram.

Last weekend an Instagram account under her name was used to respond to President Donald Trump’s air strikes against a Syrian air base, which came in response to a chemical weapons attack by her husband’s regime.

The post said: “The presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic affirms that what America has done is an irresponsible act that only reflects a short-sightedness, a narrow horizon, a political and military blindness to reality and a naive pursuit of a frenzied false propaganda campaign.”

Her husband has also accused the US of fabricating the chemical attack to justify a military strike, even as British investigators confirmed the use of toxic sarin gas. Last weekend an Instagram account under her name was used to respond to President Donald Trump’s air strikes against a Syrian air base, which came in response to a chemical weapons attack by her husband’s regime.

The post said: “The presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic affirms that what America has done is an irresponsible act that only reflects a short-sightedness, a narrow horizon, a political and military blindness to reality and a naive pursuit of a frenzied false propaganda campaign.” Her husband has also accused the US of fabricating the chemical attack to justify a military strike, even as British investigators confirmed the use of toxic sarin gas. (Click www.telegraph.co.uk for completed story)