DUBAI (Reuters) – Syria’s first lady, Asma al-Assadhas been diagnosed with leukemia, the Syrian presidency announced on Tuesday, almost five years after announcing that she was completely cured of breast cancer.
The statement said Asma, 48, would undergo a special treatment protocol that would require her to self-isolate and as a result, she would stay away from public engagements.
In August 2019, Asma said she had fully recovered from breast cancer which she said was discovered early.
Since Syria plunged into war in 2011, the British-born former investment banker has taken on a public role leading charity efforts and meeting with the families of slain soldiers, but he has also become hated by the opposition.
She runs the Syria Trust for Development, a large NGO that serves as the umbrella organization for many aid and development operations in Syria.
Last year, she accompanied her husband, President Bashar al-Assad, on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, her first known official trip abroad with him since 2011. She met Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the mother of the Emirati president, on a trip seen as a public signal of her growing role in public affairs.
(Reporting by Clauda Tanios and Tala Ramadan in Dubai, and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; editing by Mark Heinrich and Timothy Heritage)
