Russian officials have been forced to issue a statement after reports emerged suggesting the wife of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was seeking a divorce.

"No, they do not correspond to reality," Kremlin spokesman Peskov tells reporters on media reports about UK-born Asma, who reportedly wants to file for divorce from ousted Syrian regime leader Bashar

Russia's president says he should've prepared more before launching his country's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

During a carefully choreographed annual press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about Ukraine, Syria and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

Asma al-Assad is severely ill with leukaemia and has been isolated by doctors who have given her a “50/50” chance of survival, The Telegraph understands. The British wife of the ousted Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is being kept away from others to prevent infection and cannot be in the same room as anyone else.

Russia should have launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a year-end news conference Thursday.

Vladimir Putin says he has not met the deposed Syrian ruler since he fled Damascus for the Russian capital. President Vladimir Putin says Russia has not been defeated in Syria after rebel groups ousted his ally and longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad, earlier this month.

Putin has said he will ask the deposed president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, about the U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in the country 12 years ago. “I promise to ask this question,” he said in response to a question from NBC News’ Keir Simmons.

US officials have claimed that North Korea is suffering mass casualties on the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine, being used in costly “human wave” attacks. White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday that thousands of North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in the last week alone.

The wife and daughter of one of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's cousins have been arrested in Lebanon. They were detained at Beirut's airport, reports Associated Press. According to sources in Lebanon's law enforcement,

The consequences of Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power in Syria will reverberate for years across the Middle East, but one great fact is already clear. The Obama era in Middle Eastern history has, thankfully, come to an end.