Asma Assad Undergoes Successful Operation to Remove Malignant Tumor

Asma Assad handling some papers in the capital Damascus, in a handout photo provided, Jan. 27, 2019. (Getty Images)
Asma Assad handling some papers in the capital Damascus, in a handout photo provided, Jan. 27, 2019. (Getty Images)
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Asma Assad Undergoes Successful Operation to Remove Malignant Tumor

Asma Assad handling some papers in the capital Damascus, in a handout photo provided, Jan. 27, 2019. (Getty Images)
Asma Assad handling some papers in the capital Damascus, in a handout photo provided, Jan. 27, 2019. (Getty Images)

The wife of Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad has undergone a successful operation to remove a malignant tumor as part of her treatment for early-stage breast cancer, the presidency said on Sunday.

"Asma Assad continues her treatment against the malignant tumor," it said on its Facebook page.

"Breast surgery at the Damascus military hospital has been successful," it added, according to AFP.

The presidency announced in August that the first lady had begun treatment for "a malignant tumor in the breast that was discovered at an early stage".

Since then, the presidency's social media accounts have often showed her with a scarf knotted elegantly around her head, visiting children cancer patients, wounded soldiers, or attending charity events.

Asma, whose father is a cardiologist and whose mother is a diplomat, has two sons and a daughter with Assad.



Iraq’s Sadr to Boycott Elections, Says Doesn’t Want to Work with ‘Corrupt’ Figures

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
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Iraq’s Sadr to Boycott Elections, Says Doesn’t Want to Work with ‘Corrupt’ Figures

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)

Head of Iraq’s Sadrist movement influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced on Friday that he was boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections, citing the involvement of “corrupt” figures in the process.

“Let everyone know that as long as corruption exists, I will not take part in any flawed electoral process that only concerns itself with sectarian and partisan interests, not the people’s suffering and all the catastrophes going on in the region,” he added.

“Dragging Iraq and its people into needless conflicts is the primary reason for these catastrophes,” he went on to say.

Sadr therefore called on his supporters to refrain from voting or running in the elections.

“What point is there in taking part in rule with corrupt figures?” he wondered.

Earlier in March, Sadr had invited former MPs from the Sadr bloc to a Ramadan iftar, fueling speculation that he was going to end his boycott of political life. Some 200 Sadrist MPs, who had run for election between 2005 and 2018, attended the iftar.

Shiite parties, most notably Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and former PM Nouri al-Maliki, were seeking rapprochement with Sadr in the hopes of forging an alliance in the elections.