Daily Mail
A Surrey-based cousin of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has been threatened with beheading by jihadists, it has emerged.
Siwar al-Assad, who lives in an eight-bedroom luxury home in leafy Oxshott, revealed he has received threatening messages saying 'we are coming for you'.
Counter-terrorism officers are investigating the threats, which included a handwritten note delivered to the television executive's £5million home, as well as a message sent through Facebook.
The 42-year-old father-of-two is the son of Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of the current Syrian president and brother of former leader Hafez al-Assad.
Rifaat, who now splits his time between a nine-bedroom home in Mayfair, London, and an exclusive property in Marbella, has long been accused of involvement in a 1982 massacre in the Syrian city of Hama.
It is thought the death threats against his son could be related to the massacre, The Sunday Times reports.
The brutal response saw the Syrian army quell an uprising by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and estimates of the number of killings vary from 1,000 to as high as 40,0000.
The hand-delivered note sent to Siwar referred to his father, The Sunday Times states.
It read: 'You have to know that we are coming and you will be beheaded inshallah (which means God willing).'
And a text message he received in the autumn last year said: 'The blood of the martyrs will be avenged, Allahu Akbar (which means God is the greatest).'
Siwar, who heads London-based satellite network Alamia News, said he notified police after his 29-year-old wife, Claudia, urged him to.
He denied his father had anything to do with the Hama massacre, for which Rifaat has been given the nickname 'the Butcher of Hama'.
Last year it emerged that Rifaat, Syria's former vice president, is facing probes into how he amassed his multi-million pound fortune despite being kicked out of Syria 'with nothing' 30 years ago.
He went into exile in Europe after staging a failed coup against his brother, Hafez al Assad, father of the current Syrian president, who was the country's ruler at the time.
The brutal 1982 Hama massacre saw the Syrian army quell an uprising by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and estimates of the number of killings vary from 1,000 to as high as 40,0000
He has since spent more than 30 years living a life of luxury moving between homes in Paris, London and the southern Spanish city of Marbella.
The inquiry into the former Syrian vice president's finances was triggered by Sherpa, an activist group representing the victims of financial crime, which claims his fortune was stolen during his time at the heart of the Syrian regime.
His family's assets, outlined by French customs in a May 2014 report, are valued at around £64million - much of it held through a web of businesses based in Luxembourg.
The French probe also asks questions as to why the British government has not itself examined the coming and goings of Mr al-Assad and his sons.
Rifaat has denied acquiring assets in France through illegal means.
French judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke last year frozen his French assets - mostly tied up in property and thought to be worth around £80 million.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, spoke to Michael Sheridan, who undertook a special investigation on behalf of The Sunday Times.
He described Rifaat as one of the 'kingpins' and 'founding godfathers' of the Assad regime.
He stated: 'Having fleeced Syria for so much wealth, it is galling to Syrians to see them flaunt their ill-gotten millions all across Europe while millions of Syrians languish in refugee camps.'