BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian first lady Asma Assad has been diagnosed with leukemia, the office of President Bashar Assad announced Tuesday. The president’s wife was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia “after presenting with several symptoms and following a comprehensive series of medical tests and examinations,” the statement said. She will “adhere to a specialized treatment protocol that includes stringent infection prevention measures” and “will temporarily withdraw from all direct engagements” as part of the treatment plan, it added. Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and the blood. Asma Assad has previously been treated for breast cancer. In August 2019, she announced that she was “completely” free of the disease a year after her diagnosis. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, although her family is originally from central Syria, the first lady is a powerful and divisive figure. She is under western sanctions and has been a highly controversial figure in the course of the Syrian conflict. |
Children race to collect marshmallows dropped from a helicopter at a DetroitIntuitive Machines: Odysseus Moon lander 'tipped over on touchdown'California is still counting votes from Super Tuesday. Experts say that’s normalPunxsutawney Phil and wife Phyllis are parents of 2 babiesAstronomers find vast underground ocean under Saturn's Death StarTennessee fisherman reeled in a big one. It turned out to be an alligator$1.50 for a coffee? The viral street ‘cafe’ run by a homeless manCaptain of container ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse is Indian, not UkrainianHong Kong jails Portuguese national for overseas social media posts — Radio Free AsiaA new declaration in Mexico gives 19 cats roaming the presidential palace food and care fur