Syrian Dictator Bashar Al-Assad's Uncle Rifat Has Died
4- 21.01.2026, 21:50
- 8,584
He was called "the butcher of Hama."
World agencies citing their sources report the death of Rifat Assad, the brother and uncle of Syrian dictators Hafez and Bashar al-Assad. Rifat al-Assad, once the powerful head of an elite branch of the security forces, was once touted as Hafez al-Assad's successor. He helped him become president in the 1970s and consolidate power, and was nicknamed "the butcher of Hama" for his role in quelling an Islamist uprising in 1982, reports HAF.
The AFP news agency says the death of 88-year-old Rifat Assad has been confirmed by two sources.
One, a longtime employee of the Assads' presidential palace, said Rifat died as a result of complications from the flu. The other, a former Syrian army officer, confirmed the death and specified that Rifat had moved to the United Arab Emirates after Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The ex-officer did not say whether he died in that country.
Rifat Assad was nicknamed "the butcher of Hama" after the bloody suppression by government forces under his command of an Islamist uprising in the city of Hama in 1982. At that time, between 10,000 and 40,000 people were killed over 27 days, according to various estimates.
This devastating three-week offensive is often described as a prototype for how Bashar would deal with the uprising against his rule nearly thirty years later.
Swiss prosecutors accused Rifat of a range of crimes, including ordering "murder, torture, inhuman treatment and illegal detentions" while serving in the Syrian army.
At the time, his brother Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria and Rifat served as vice president. However, in 1984, after a failed attempt to overthrow his brother, Rifat fled the country.
After establishing himself in Europe as a wealthy businessman, he first settled in Geneva before moving to France and Spain. In those years, he could be seen strolling with bodyguards at Porto Banus in Marbella in southern Spain, where he also had beachfront property.
When Hafez died in 2000, Rifat opposed the transfer of power to Bashar al-Assad and proclaimed himself the legitimate successor. However, this attempt to challenge the Syrian leadership ultimately proved futile.
In 2011, when Syria was hit by a wave of uprisings, he again called on his nephew to step down to prevent a civil war. He partially justified Bashar, claiming that the reason for the popular protest lies in the accumulated mistakes over the years, and not in the actions of the president himself.
In 2021, Rifat returned from France to Syria to avoid a four-year prison sentence for the purchase of French real estate worth millions of euros with funds illegally withdrawn from the Syrian state.
The court ordered the seizure of all the real estate he owned in France, then valued at 100 million euros ($116 million), as well as property in London, valued at 29 million euros ($33 million).
Rifat has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Two years later, Rifat appeared in a family photo with Bashar, the president's wife Asma and other relatives.
According to a Reuters news agency source, shortly after Bashar's ouster, Rifat tried to leave the country through a Russian airbase but was not allowed to go there. He eventually fled to Lebanon, crossing a river on the back of a close associate.
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