The wife of deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is severely ill with leukaemia and has been given a 50-50 chance of survival, media reports say.
Asma al-Assad is being isolated to prevent infection and cannot be in the same room as other people, the Telegraph newspaper also reported.
The al-Assad family fled to Moscow as a lightning rebel offensive swept Syria’s capital Damascus earlier this month.
British-born Asma al-Assad and their children left for Russia ahead of the former president, and she is now reportedly being cared for by her father Fawaz Akhras, a respected Harley Street cardiologist, who is said to be “heartbroken”.
Syria’s presidency announced in May that Asma al-Assad, the then-first lady, had been diagnosed with an acute form of leukaemia, a cancer of the bone marrow and blood.
She had previously been treated for breast cancer, and in 2019 announced she was free of the disease after a year of treatment.