Syria’s first lady has vowed to tap into the ‘determination and strength’ of those around her after commencing treatment for breast cancer.
Asma al-Assad posted on her Facebook page: ‘I belong to the (Syrian) people who taught the world steadfastness, strength and how to face difficulties.’
The caption, above a photo of the first lady walking in hospital with a bandaged left wrist, continued in Arabic: ‘My determination comes from your determination and strength in the past years.’
In response to her comment, people have posted their support for her fight against the disease, with one woman saying: ‘May God heal you, Syria’s lioness, and make you safe with all our hearts’.
One noted that despite being British-born, she ‘did not travel to be treated in Britain or Russia… she is the daughter of Syria’.
The presidency announced yesterday that Asma Assad had started treatment for breast cancer, wishing her a speedy recovery.
Following treatment for breast cancer, this photo of Asma Assad was shared on her Instagram account yesterday. She is pictured carrying files and holding a glass of tea with her left wrist bandaged
Such public announcements are uncommon in the Arab world, where cancer is considered a taboo.
The presidency also posted on its Facebook page a photo of President Bashar Assad sitting next to his British-born wife in a hospital room with an IV in her left arm.
The accompanying statement said the ‘malignant tumor’ was discovered in its early stages.
State news agency SANA said the first lady is undergoing treatment at a military hospital in the Syrian capital of Damascus. But it gave no further details.
This photo posted 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
The couple are pictured here at a summit in Paris in 2008. Their marriage was announced in 2000
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.
Mrs Assad uses her Instagram account to regularly post propaganda images such as this one of her husband with government forces
Since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, Mrs Assad has mostly been seen in public receiving families of fallen soldiers
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.
Before the crisis began in March 2011, she was the subject of flattering profiles in Vogue and other fashion magazines.
As Syria’s conflict worsened, the first lady became a target of contempt for many opposition supporters who saw her as whitewashing atrocities carried out by the government.
When her husband faced calls to be tried as a war criminal, Mrs Assad was widely criticised for saying accusations against him were ‘propaganda’ against the regime.
She even used her Instagram account, where she regularly posts propaganda images of her husband with government forces, to accuse the west of lying over his use of Sarin gas on his own people.
On her Instagram account, she wrote in Arabic: ‘The presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic affirms that what America has done is an irresponsible act that only reflects a short-sightedness, a narrow horizon, a political and military blindness to reality, and a naive pursuit of a frenzied false propaganda campaign that fueled the regime’s arrogance.’
Mrs Assad’s parents, both Sunni Muslims, moved from Syria to London in the Fifties so that her father, who is now based at the Cromwell Hospital and in Harley Street, could get the best possible education and medical training.
Though a Muslim, she was educated at a Church of England school in Ealing before attending a private girls’ day school — Queen’s College, Harley Street.
After studying computer science and French literature at King’s College London, Mrs Assad worked as a banker at JP Morgan in the Nineties when she met her future husband.
At the time, Assad was training at a hospital in London to become an eye surgeon.
Those who knew her said that, given that she spent the first 25 years of her life in London, Mrs Assad had liberal western values.
In 2012, she was banned from travelling to Europe and last year MPs called for her British citizenship to be revoked.
Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP on the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: ‘The time has come where we go after [President] Assad in every which way, including people like Mrs Assad, who is very much part of the propaganda machine that is committing war crimes.’