A Dundee single mum trapped with her three children in a Syrian conflict zone is hoping to secure citizenship so that she can return to the UK.
The estranged father of Jannah Reid’s children has refused to give her permission to take them out of the battle-torn country.
The 51-year-old has been living with her sons in an apartment block in downtown Damascus and teaches English in order to make ends meet.
The former Dundee High School pupil converted to Islam while living in London, later joining fundamentalist sect, the Salafee, and marrying a Syrian adherent she met just three hours before the ceremony.
They settled in Syria with a son from her previous marriage and she had another two children before her husband fled to Saudi Arabia when the uprising began.
Strict laws mean Jannah Reid now needs the written permission of her husband to take her two younger sons to the UK.
She said: “Their father is still refusing to allow his children to leave the country unless I sign papers relinquishing a lot of my rights to them.
“As a sole carer for almost 10 years, this is something I cannot risk doing. I have an excellent lawyer working extremely hard on the situation and I am hoping that I am granted Syrian nationality.
“After becoming Syrian they can grant me a divorce and official custody of the boys.”
Ms Reid, who still has family in Dundee, added: “I need to leave this country as soon as is physically possible. Life is extremely hard. There have been bombs inside Damascus itself.”