The wife of Syria’s president has revealed that she is ‘completely’ free of breast cancer – a year after being diagnosed with the disease.
In a state TV interview that aired late on Saturday, Asma Assad, 43, sported a new short blonde bob and flashed a wide smile.
She encouraged women to go for regular check-ups, having always been an advocate of early detection of illnesses.
This photo released Sunday, Aug 4th, 2019, on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, shows Syria’s first lady Asma Assad during an interview on state TV in Damascus
Assad went public with her diagnosis last year – a rare declaration in the Arab world, where prominent figures often conceal their ailments.
Assad has previously been pictured attending military hospitals for treatment, with husband Bashar Assad by her side. Throughout her battle she continued her public activities, appearing with covered hair.
‘My journey has ended… I totally conquered cancer,’ she said in the new interview, sporting the stylish short haircut and a long white dress.
Asked by the interviewer on state television why it seemed that she had actually increased her workload since her diagnosis, the 43-year-old said that this was not the case.
She added that the expectation is that people going through chemotherapy do less, but this not the case.
Asma pictured before her diagnosis, speaking at the International diplomatic academy on December 10, 2010 in Paris. In January, she underwent an operation at a military hospital
She was also asked why she chose to be treated in Syria and in particular – a military hospital.
‘Lisa, after nine years of war, you ask me why in the military hospital?!’ she replied with a laugh.
The interviewer explained that ‘the question is being asked’ and Asma added: ‘I am proud that I was treated in a military hospital.
‘I am honoured that those who were treated with me were, a few hours or days earlier, on the front lines defending our country.’
Since her diagnoses photos of her, thin and wearing a headscarf, have regularly been shared on the Syrian presidency’s social media accounts.
This photo from Aug 8, 2018 on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad sitting next to his wife Asma Assad with an IV in her left arm
In January, she underwent an operation at a military hospital in Damascus, according to the presidency.
In the interview, she described the ‘physical exhaustion’ and other effects stemming from her treatment.
She praised the support she received from her children, her parents and her ‘life partner’.
‘Of course he was by my side,’ she said, referring to Assad.
The first lady, whose father is a cardiologist and whose mother is a diplomat, has two sons and a daughter with Assad.
Born in London, the former investment banker styled herself as a progressive rights advocate and was seen as the modern side of the Assad dynasty.
Asma al-Assad reacts during the graduation ceremony of professors from Damascus University, who will work at the Syrian Organisation for Persons with Disabilities
The Assads have continued to present themselves as modern, forward-looking leaders, even as Syria has been convulsed by civil war ignited by a rebellion against the family’s decades-long rule.
Asma Assad’s parents, a cardiologist and a diplomat, are from the central province of Homs but she was born and raised in London before moving back to Syria after meeting the president.
The two have been married for 18 years and have three children, Hafez, Zein and Karim.
The couple’s marriage was announced by state media six months after he assumed the presidency in July 2000 following the death of his father Hafez.
The former investment banker styled herself as a progressive rights advocate and was seen as the modern side of the Assad dynasty.
Since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, Mrs Assad has mostly been seen in public receiving families of fallen soldiers, or hosting people wounded in the conflict, now in its eighth year, which has killed more than 400,000 people.