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.



Tunisians Vote in Election, with Main Rival to Saied in Prison

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisians Vote in Election, with Main Rival to Saied in Prison

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

Tunisians began voting on Sunday in an election in which President Kais Saied is seeking a second term, with his main rival suddenly jailed last month and the other candidate heading a minor political party.
Sunday's election pits Saied against two rivals: his former ally turned critic, Chaab Party leader Zouhair Maghzaoui, and Ayachi Zammel, who had been seen as posing a big threat to Saied until he was jailed last month.
Senior figures from the biggest parties, which largely oppose Saied, have been imprisoned on various charges over the past year and those parties have not publicly backed any of the three candidates on Sunday's ballot. Other opponents have been barred from running.
Polls close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) and results are expected in the next two days. Political tensions have risen since an electoral commission named by Saied disqualified three prominent candidates last month, amid protests by opposition and civil society groups. Lawmakers loyal to Saied then approved a law last week stripping the administrative court of authority over election disputes. This Court is widely seen as the country's last independent judicial body, after Saied dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council and dismissed dozens of judges in 2022.
Saied, elected in 2019, seized most powers in 2021 when he dissolved the elected parliament and rewrote the constitution, a move the opposition described as a coup.