Asma al-Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said he was "totally" cured of breast cancer after a year of treatment, in an interview broadcast Saturday night by state television. .
One year of treatment
"My journey has ended (...) God be praised, I have totally conquered cancer," said Asma al-Assad, who will turn 44 on August 11, boyish cut and dressed in a long White dress. The television did not specify the recording date of the interview. In August 2018, during the war in Syria, the presidency announced that the First Lady had breast cancer and had begun treatment. Since then, photos of Asma al-Assad wearing a headscarf, her face thinned, had been broadcast by the presidency.
She appeared there in treatment centers for children who were cancer patients, war-wounded, orphaned or involved in charity events. In January, she had been operated on in a military hospital in Damascus. In her interview, Asma al-Assad, mother of two boys and one daughter, spoke of "physical exhaustion" during her treatment. The face sometimes serious and sometimes smiling, she praised the support provided during this period by her children, her parents and her husband. She said that Bashar al-Assad, his "life partner" was "by his side during this ordeal".
Criticized for his silence over the bloody repression of her husband
Described by American magazine Vogue as "Desert Rose" and "light" by a French weekly before the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011, Asma al-Assad was then sharply criticized for his silence over the bloody repression of pro-democracy demonstrations then rebellion. She rarely appeared in public. The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and thrown millions into the streets.