Bashar Al Assad’s in-laws left their west London home and fled the UK as rebel forces in Syria moved towards Damascus, according to reports.
Fawaz Akhras and his wife Shar Otri left their home in North Acton a week ago, their neighbours say.
The couple are the parents of Asma al-Assad, who married the recently overthrown Syrian president in 2000 when he was studying in the capital.
A neighbour told The Sun: “The house has been empty for a week. They usually are around, so I think they may be hiding somewhere - but they have not come home for a week now.
“[Fawaz] had been there alone for the past four months, his wife was no longer living here.”
Another neighbour in their street added: “They have been very quiet since 2012, and have been almost invisible since then.”
The rapid collapse of the Assad regime saw a coalition of rebel groups seize control of Damascus on Sunday.
Assad quickly fled to Moscow alongside his wife but the whereabouts of her parents remain unknown.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed in the House of Commons on Monday that Mrs Assad is “a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK”.
His comments came after the Prime Minister said it was too early to say whether the Government would strip Mrs Assad of her British citizenship.
Sir Keir Starmer told broadcasters: “We are far too early in any decisions about anything.
“At the moment we are hours, days into a fast-moving situation and that’s why it’s very important for us to continue to talk to our allies, including here in discussions I’ve been having today, to make sure that what happens next is peaceful.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in that, a lot of risks, I absolutely accept, and challenges, but they are going to be best met if we work with our allies towards that peaceful resolution and the rejection, the utter rejection, of terrorism and violence.”
Labour veteran Pat McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier on Monday that the Government has had “no contact or no request” for Mrs Assad to come to the UK.
It is understood that referrals were made to the Metropolitan Police’s war crimes team in relation to Mrs Assad in 2020 and 2021, but the matter was subsequently dropped.
Mrs Assad was born in London in 1975 and was raised and educated in the city.
Her father has been a Harley Street cardiologist since 2002 and has also served as the director of the British Syrian Society which works to strengthen relations between Britain and Syria.
