Syrian First Lady Asma Al-Assad diagnosed with leukemia

Beirut, Lebanon:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s British wife Asma, who recovered from breast cancer in 2019, has been diagnosed with leukemia, the president’s office said on Tuesday.

“First Lady Asma al-Assad has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia,” an aggressive cancer of the white blood cells involved in fighting infections, it said in a statement.

She will undergo a “specialized treatment protocol” that requires social distancing to avoid infection, the statement said, adding that she will “temporarily withdraw from all direct appointments as part of her treatment plan.”

In 2019, Syria’s first lady said she was “totally” free of breast cancer after battling the disease for a year.

Born in Britain in 1975, the former investment banker called herself a progressive defender of rights and the modern side of the Assad dynasty before the eruption of the country’s brutal civil war in 2011.

The first lady was even hailed as “A Rose in the Desert” in a now-infamous cover story for US magazine Vogue, before the applause turned to condemnation for her support for her husband’s crushing of pro-democracy protests. .

She founded the Damascus-based charity Syria Trust for Development, which is one of the rare organizations allowed to work in government-controlled areas.

The first lady, whose father is a cardiologist and mother is a diplomat, has two sons and a daughter with Assad.

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