President Bashar al-Assad’s wife was receiving treatment for an early-stage malignant tumor.
Born and raised in London, Asma al-Assad has been a highly controversial figure.
The Syrian first lady was one of twelve people placed under EU sanctions in 2012 over the government’s violent response to the Syrian uprising.
A photograph of Asma al-Assad and her husband was posted on Twitter together with the words: “Mrs. Asma al-Assad begins the first stage of treatment for a malignant breast tumor that was discovered early…. the Presidency and its team wish Mrs. Asma a speedy recovery.”
A dual British-Syrian national, Asma al-Assad attended school and university in London before becoming an investment banker.
She moved to Syria in 2000 and married former ophthalmologist Bashar al-Assad, just months after he succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad as president.
Bashar and Asma al-Assad were initially presented as reformers and as a change from the repressive rule of the late president, with a glowing portrait of the first lady published by Vogue in February 2011 – and since deleted – describing her as “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies”.
However, just a month later, police reacted brutally to protests in the southern city of Deraa, sparking a conflict which has claimed the lives of around half a million people and displaced millions more.
In her first public comments on the violence in February 2012, Asma al-Assad firmly stood beside her husband.
The same year, activists released thousands of private emails purportedly from the president and his wife apparently showing that Asma al-Assad continued to buy luxury goods even after the uprising had begun. She was also personally sanctioned by the EU.
Asma al-Assad did not speak to foreign media again until 2016, when she told Russian state-backed television that she had previously rejected offers of asylum abroad.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons President-elect Donald Trump celebrated his election victory at the Ultimate Fighting…
Millions of voters across the US chose to return Donald Trump to the White House…
Donald Trump declares victory in the US election as he addresses jubilant supporters in Florida.…
Stocks around the world are rising as Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp…
Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and taken a lead over Kamala…
Quincy Jones, the celebrated musician and producer who worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray…