{"id":259611,"date":"2016-10-19T07:59:24","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T07:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=259611"},"modified":"2016-10-19T07:59:24","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T07:59:24","slug":"assads-wife-rejected-offer-of-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/assads-wife-rejected-offer-of-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"Assad’s wife ‘rejected offer of asylum’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Syria’s first lady has said she rejected a deal to offer her safe passage out of the war-torn nation in order to stay by her husband’s side.<\/p>\n
Asma al-Assad revealed she believed those offering her a new home were trying to undermine her husband Bashar’s presidency.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Russian state-backed television, she refused to say who made the offer.<\/p>\n
Mrs Assad also thanked Russia for its “noble efforts” supporting the regime.<\/p>\n
Mrs Assad, whose social media pages are filled with pictures of her meeting orphans and the injured, told Rossiya 24: “I’ve been here since the beginning and I never thought of being anywhere else at all.<\/p>\n
“Yes I was offered the opportunity to leave Syria or rather to run from Syria. These offers included guarantees of safety and protection for my children and even financial security.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t take a genius to know what these people were really after. It was a deliberate attempt to shatter people’s confidence in their president.”<\/p>\n