What can you cook from squid: quick and tasty

The wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was taken to a military hospital in Damascus with cancer. This was reported by the Internet accounts of the office of the head of state.

The first lady of Syria was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the breast. Cancer is detected at an early stage. The presidential office expressed hope that Asma's treatment will be successful and she will soon recover.

Asma al-Assad, then Asma Fawaz al-Ahras, was born on August 11, 1975 in London, where her mother, Sahar Otri al-Ahras, worked in the diplomatic line (first secretary of the Syrian embassy in the UK). Asma's father, cardiologist Fawaz Ahras, worked as a leading consultant at the cardiology center. Both Asma's mother and father belong to one of the most respected and revered Sunni families, were born and raised in the western Syrian city of Homs. Asma graduated from the London girls' school. She then entered King's College, University of London, earning honors degrees in computer technology and French literature. She also carefully studied and continues to study history. We add that Asma, in addition to Arabic, is fluent in English, French and Spanish. She worked for four years in large banks, specializing in mergers and acquisitions of companies.

For a long time, the Sunni Akhrasov family was friends with the Alawite Asad family, whose head was the military leader and statesman Hafez al-Assad (President of Syria in 1970-2000). Little Asma al-Ahras, when she came to her home country for summer holidays, often talked with one of the sons of Hafez al-Assad - Bashar (despite the 10-year age difference). With age, the friendship developed into a closer relationship, which was facilitated by Bashar's temporary move to London, where he trained and worked as an ophthalmologist at St. Mary's Hospital. Their common hobby was computer technology. According to Asma herself, " we have a case when childhood friendship turns into love".

In 1994, Bashar al-Assad returned to Syria. The father-president began to methodically prepare his son for governing the state through studying at the military academy (by the way, under the tutelage of Russian officers), commanding a tank battalion, commanding the Republican Guard, leading the special services, working in the presidential administration, diplomatic work, helping Hafez al-Assad in the fight corruption and agents of influence of the West. The relationship between Bashar and Asma was not interrupted. In June 2000, the old ruler died of heart failure, in July Bashar al-Assad was elected the new president of Syria, and already on January 1, 2001, he married the faithful Asma. The wedding ceremony took place quietly, without noise, with the participation of only close relatives. In the same year, they had a son, Hafez, in 2003, a daughter, Zane, and in 2004, a son, Karim.

Asma al-Assad quickly earned the love of most of her fellow citizens (the media called her "The Rose of the Desert") for her modesty, tact, smile, ease of communication, wide charitable and educational programs, patronage of national art. At the same time, of course, Asma was instantly hated by the Islamist underground: she does not recognize the headscarf, often wears a dress above the knees, etc. In 2008, Asma al-Assad was recognized by Elle magazine as “the most graceful first lady”, deservedly ahead of Karla Bruni-Sarkozy and Michelle Obama. At the same time, the Center for the Study of the Participation of Arab Women in Society and the League of Arab States awarded her the title of "First Lady of the Arab World-2008".

Since 2011, compliments from the outside western press changed to shrill swearing. Fashion editors apologized for the past articles about Asma's impeccable taste, her elegance. "Desert Rose", "the freshest and most attractive of the first ladies" has turned for the West exclusively into "the wife of a bloody dictator", "the first lady of the underworld." Dirty lies are regularly published - for example, that she and her children allegedly left the country.

This fragile woman actively helps her husband in confronting the "world government" and its hirelings (she has her own office in the presidential palace, her husband-president often uses her advice), heads the women's wing of the ruling Baath party, and oversees important social and humanitarian projects. In January 2012, Asma spoke out with ardent support for Bashar al-Assad at a rally in Damascus of many thousands, taking the podium with her two children. On 8 February 2012, she sent an email to the London newspaper The Times, stressing that "Bashar al-Assad is the president of Syria, not part of the Syrians. I support him in this role.".

- I would like to know about the future of Syria after the war, how could you describe it, how do you build this future? And how do you manage to cope with the destruction across the country?
- The lands on which Syria is located have been inhabited for a very long time. For thousands of years, dozens of wars and invasions have occurred on this land, and some of its areas have been completely destroyed. But I know that Syria can recover, and it will. The most important thing is to deal with the internal and external factors that caused and continued wars. We must do this for the sake of future generations. We Syrians have always won out - and this period in our history is no exception. It is known that the word "Syria" means "rising sun", and I can assure you that a new sunrise awaits the Syrians.
- And the last question: during the whole time of the war you did not run away from the country. Has anyone advised you to run to save your life, and what was your response?
- You are right in both. Firstly, I was here from the very beginning and never even thought about being somewhere else. And secondly, yes, I was offered the opportunity to leave Syria, or rather, to escape from Syria. These proposals included a guarantee for the safety and protection of my children and even financial security. But it doesn't take a genius to understand true purpose these people. They never cared about my well-being or the well-being of my children; it was a deliberate attempt to shake people's faith in their president. Suffice it to say that these proposals were stupid and, moreover, did not come from the Syrians.
(interview excerpt, October 2016)

According to one version, he had a stroke, according to the other, Assad had paralysis after the attempt on his own guard. Arab-speaking journalist Visamela Khurra managed to get through to the Sham hospital, where Assad is allegedly staying, and talked to the doctor on duty, posing as an employee of the presidential administration. The transcript of the conversation is quoted by the Sputnik-Azerbaijan agency:

Hello, hello!

- Listen to you!

I am calling from the presidential administration, it is forbidden to talk about the president's health. No information will be provided.

- Yes, but all the doctors know what kind of patient they brought here.

You will not give information about the president to anyone? This is classified information.

- OK then.

If anyone wants to get any information about the president over the phone, you refuse.

- OK, deal.

I would like to speak with the director, the doctor in charge.

- I understand you, I'll talk to him.

I repeat once again: do not give anyone information about the president. Do you understand me?

- All clear.

What is your name?

- Hasan from the reception office.

I am Mala Kali Hassan. I am speaking to you from the presidential palace. Our conversation is registered. I beg you not to tell anyone that the President is in the hospital.

- Got it.

From the telephone conversation, it becomes clear that Bashar al-Assad is indeed in the Sham hospital, but they hide it from everyone.

There is also a slightly different version. It is quoted by The Time newspaper with reference to the former Syrian diplomat Bassam Barabandi, who claims that Assad really had a minor stroke, and he was even allegedly taken by helicopter to neighboring Lebanon to the Beirut University Hospital. But he quickly recovered and was discharged a few days later.

Alexander Gusev,
Director of the Institute for Strategic Planning and Forecasting:

Indeed, it can be assumed that he is a human, not a robot, that Bashar al-Assad may not feel very well. But to be honest, he is a relatively young man, moreover, a person with a medical education, it is unlikely that he does not look after his health. But, as they say, everything happens in life. I do not really believe this information, but at the same time we are now checking it from various sources. If this information is confirmed, it is clear that the situation could get out of control. Now a rather serious negotiation process is underway with the so-called moderate opposition. On the other hand, government troops are advancing, actually liberating Aleppo, moving towards Raqqa. Of course, Bashar al-Assad's disease, if it really does occur, then it will create sufficiently serious conditions for the rise and activation of the Islamic State gangs and so on, the most serious international terrorism organizations located in Syria and banned in many countries, including and in Russia. If this information is not confirmed, then everything is under control, I would not say that there was a turning point in the course of military operations in Syria, because in connection with the start of the negotiation process in Astana, you need to understand what to do next. Interaction within the framework of moderate opposition allows the Russian side, Turkey, Iran to understand what to do next.

The official Syrian agency Sanaa has not published photos and messages with Bashar al-Assad for five days. Despite the fact that it usually does it regularly. But official Damascus denies that Assad has health problems. And the private but pro-government TV channel Al-Ikhbariya reported that Assad had a telephone conversation with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 30, bfm.ru writes.

It is worth noting that rumors about Assad's illness or death regularly appear in the press. The stroke was reported in the press of the Gulf countries in November 2015, then the Al Arabia channel gave this information in February 2016. The president was "killed" almost from the very beginning of the Syrian crisis. In March 2013, it was reported that a group of unidentified militants killed the president in Damascus during the battle. In March and December 2015, there were reports that a security guard killed him.

reference

Bashar al-Assad is the son of the previous President of Syria, Hafez Assad. He came to power in July 2000 after uncontested elections in 2000, then in 2007, and on June 3, 2014, he was re-elected to the post of head of state in the first alternative elections with an official result of 88.7% of the vote. The 2014 elections were held in conditions civil war and were boycotted by the opposition.

Bashar al-Assad

"The well-known TV presenter of the Al-Jazeera channel, Faisal al-Qasem, said on his Twitter that Assad is bedridden, but not in a coma," the message said.

This information was confirmed by the Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal, which also named Assad's disease. According to the newspaper's sources, the Syrian President was hospitalized with an ischemic stroke (cerebral infarction).

The Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper also informed its readers about Bashar al-Assad's hospitalization.

In turn, representatives of President Assad denied this information, saying that he had no health problems.

Recall that earlier in January.

What can you cook from squid: quick and tasty

Alexander Gusev, Director of the Institute for Strategic Planning and Forecasting:

reference

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Alexander Gusev,
Director of the Institute for Strategic Planning and Forecasting: