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.



Lebanon Calls for Negotiations Following US Strikes on Iran

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
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Lebanon Calls for Negotiations Following US Strikes on Iran

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun

Following American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Sunday that the US bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations.

“Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region,” Aoun said in a statement on X. “It is unwilling to pay more”, he added.

Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced on Monday for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites and US President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in Iran. Iran vowed to defend itself on Sunday, a day after the US joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the country since its 1979 Iranian Revolution, despite calls for restraint and a return to diplomacy from around the world.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has long been considered Iran’s first line of defense in case of a war with Israel. But since Israel launched its massive barrage against Iran, triggering the ongoing Israel-Iran war, the Lebanese group has stayed out of the fray — even after the US entered the conflict Sunday with strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

Lebanese government officials have pressed the group to stay out of the conflict, saying that Lebanon cannot handle another damaging war, and US envoy Tom Barrack, who visited Lebanon last week, said it would be a “very bad decision” for Hezbollah to get involved.