Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has been diagnosed with leukemia, the presidency said on Tuesday, almost five years after she announced she had fully recovered from breast cancer.
The statement said Asma, 48, would undergo a special treatment protocol that would require her to isolate, and that she would step away from public engagements as a result. In August 2019, Asma said she had fully recovered from breast cancer that she said had been discovered early. Since Syria plunged into war in 2011, the British-born former investment banker has taken on the public role of leading charity efforts and meeting families of killed soldiers, but has also become hated by the opposition.
Bashar Assad, 57, has ruled Syria with an iron fist since taking over from his late father Hafez in 2000. The British-trained eye doctor initially inspired hopes for reform, but instead brutally crushed dissent after protests erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring uprisings sweeping the region.
