RIYADH: Saudi surgeons on Sunday separated Syrian conjoined twins Celine and Eline in an eight-hour operation at Riyadh’s King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital.
“It’s an indescribable feeling. Truly, it’s a feeling beyond words,” said Abdulnaeim Al-Shubli the twins’ father.
“Thanks to Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah and the specialized medical team. I am deeply thankful. From now on, we will move from better to even better," he added.
"Saudi Arabia is our second home. It’s like we came to be with our own family and daughters.”
Celine and Eline, who are 17 months old, were conjoined at the lower chest and abdomen.
They were born in Februaty 2024 at Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut as part of a triplet birth. Their brother, Sanad, was born healthy and unjoined.
The family fled Aleppo in 2013 after their home was destroyed during the war and have lived in Lebanon since.
The twins were medically evacuated to Riyadh in December 2024 to receive specialized care. Al-Shubli said they underwent four months of preparation before surgery.
“They were under 24-hour supervision by a consulting medical team. The girls received complete care throughout that period, and after that they told me the surgery would proceed.”
The operation was the 66th procedure under the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program.
It is also the fourth separation of Syrian conjoined twins to be performed as part of the initiative, which has treated cases from 27 countries since its launch in 1990.
Hussein Abdulaziz, charge d’affaires at the Syrian Embassy in Riyadh, said the procedure was part of the Kingdom’s broader humanitarian efforts to assist Syrian families in need of medical care.
He said: “Cases like these are medically complex and difficult, and they require thorough study. From a humanitarian angle, such surgeries come with very high financial costs, but the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through its humanitarian and charitable work, lifts this burden entirely off the shoulders of the children’s families.”
Abdulaziz also highlighted the work of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center in Syria.
“It’s well known that KSrelief has been working in Syria for the past 14 years. After the liberation, the center expanded its operations to cover all Syrian provinces, most recently providing support to families affected by the wildfires in Latakia province on the Syrian coast,” he said.
He added that Saudi Arabia’s volunteer medical program has carried out nearly 1,300 surgeries in Syria in recent years, alongside the wide-ranging provision of food and medical aid.
