Syria’s first lady diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia

May 21. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The first lady of Syria, Asma al Assad, has been diagnosed with leukemia, as announced this Tuesday by the Syrian Presidency, nearly five years after she announced that she had recovered from breast cancer.

“After presenting multiple symptoms and clinical signs and after a series of tests and exhaustive medical examinations, the first lady, Asma al Assad, has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia,” the Syrian Presidency said in a statement published on its account. on social network X.

Thus, he stressed that Asma al Assad “will adhere to a specialized treatment protocol that includes strong infection prevention measures and appropriate social distancing”, for which he “will temporarily withdraw from all direct meetings.”

The Syrian first lady, 48, announced in August 2019 that she had overcome the breast cancer that was diagnosed about a year earlier. “My journey is over, with all the pain and exhaustion of it, inconvenient and even positive,” she said, before showing her “pride” for having received treatment in the country.

Asma al Assad took a backseat since the start of the war in March 2011, despite the fact that in the previous years she was one of the most recognizable figures of the regime, both nationally and internationally.

Born and raised in London, she was highly criticized by activists who accused her of being complicit in the atrocities committed by the authorities in the context of the conflict, unleashed by the brutal repression of the democratic protests registered in the wake of what was known as the ‘Arab Spring’. .