Asma al-Assad is critically ill with leukemia and has been isolated by doctors who have given her a “50/50” chance of survival, according to The Telegraph.
The British wife of the ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is being kept away from others to prevent infection and cannot be in the same room with anyone else.
Her father, Fawaz Akhras, has been caring for his daughter in Moscow and is described as “heartbroken,” according to sources in direct contact with her family.
Assad and his wife sought asylum in Moscow after his brutal regime lost control following 13 years of civil war.
In May of this year, the Syrian Presidency announced that the former first lady had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and blood.
She had also been previously treated for breast cancer and in August 2019 announced that she was “completely” free of the disease after a year of treatment.
Her leukemia is believed to have resurfaced after a period of remission.
“Asma is dying,” said a source who has been in direct communication with a family representative in recent weeks. “She cannot be in the same room with anyone [due to her condition].”
Another source, who has been in contact with the family in Moscow, told The Telegraph: “When leukemia returns, it’s fierce.”
“She has a 50/50 chance in the last weeks.”
Asma al-Assad, a 49-year-old Syrian-British citizen, is believed to have flown to Moscow for treatment before the Kremlin persuaded her husband to flee in the face of rebel advances.
Her father, a respected cardiologist on Harley Street, has cared for her for most of the past six months, initially in the United Arab Emirates and later in Moscow.
This revelation comes after reports that she is tired of the restrictions placed on her in Moscow and is seeking treatment in London and wants a divorce.
The Assads have not commented on the reports, although the Kremlin later denied that she was seeking to divorce her husband.
This week, Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Justice, said it would be “an insult to millions of Assad’s victims if his wife were to return to a luxurious life in the United Kingdom.”
The Telegraph also reveals the alleged origins of the divorce reports. Turkish journalists are said to have been informed by Russian diplomats.
Despite Russia’s extensive military and economic support for Assad since 2015 to help him retain power, personal relations between Putin and Assad are reported to have cooled in recent months.
The two leaders are said to have become wary of each other, with Moscow frustrated by Assad’s refusal to implement reforms or engage with opposition groups.
Assad’s continued hold on power, despite Russian security guarantees, has now become an embarrassment for Putin, analysts and observers argue.
His fall would also mean Moscow risks losing its port in Tartus and several military bases in Syria, which have become cornerstone assets for Russian operations in the Mediterranean and Africa.
Mrs. Assad was raised in Acton, west London, by her father, her mother Sahar, a former Syrian diplomat, and her brothers Feras, 46, and Eyad, 44, who are also doctors.
She studied computer science at King’s College London before she started meeting Assad in 1992.
Assad was not expected to succeed his father, but after his brother Bassel died in a car accident in 1996, he became the prominent heir and later president in 2000.
The couple’s outward reformist image and friendly relations with the West collapsed when Assad violently suppressed pro-democracy protests in 2011, plunging the country into civil war.
