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Rifaat al-Assad, the brother of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and uncle of Syria’s former president, Bashar al-Assad, died on Tuesday, two sources with knowledge of his passing said. He was 88 and died in the United Arab Emirates.
A former army officer who helped Hafez al-Assad seize power in a 1970 coup, Rifaat spent years in exile, mostly in France, while continuing to harbor presidential ambitions.
After Hafez died in 2000, he objected to the transfer of power to Bashar and declared himself the legitimate successor in a challenge that ultimately proved toothless.
He later urged Bashar to step down quickly in 2011 as rebellion swept Syria, while attributing the revolt to an accumulation of errors.
Rifaat returned to Syria in 2021 before fleeing again in 2024 following the ouster of his nephew, President Bashar al-Assad. One source said he tried to escape via a Russian airbase but was denied entry, then crossed into Lebanon.
Rifaat rose as a powerful figure in the Assad regime after the 1970 coup, commanding elite forces that crushed a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama in February 1982, one of the biggest threats to Hafez al-Assad during his 30-year rule.
Reuters described the assault as a devastating three-week operation that killed more than 10,000 people, while the Swiss prosecutors’ indictment cited a range of 3,000 to 60,000 deaths, most of them civilians.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) alleged in 2022 that between 30,000 and 40,000 civilians were killed, citing informed estimates.
TRIAL International accused him of a leading role in the “Defense Brigades” during the Hama massacre and said proceedings in Switzerland cover war crimes and crimes against humanity, including killing, torture and unlawful detention. Swiss investigations began formally in December 2013 after a complaint filed by TRIAL International.
In November 2021, an international arrest warrant was issued, and in March 2024, he was formally notified of the charges, though the Swiss Federal Criminal Court said in late November 2024 it wished to close the case due to his health, which could prevent him from traveling for trial. Rifaat’s lawyers, Reuters reported, said he always denied any involvement in the alleged acts.
According to Reuters, Rifaat’s standing rose further after Hama, and he was appointed vice president the following year.
Journalist Patrick Seale wrote in “Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East” that victory over the Brotherhood was among the factors that led senior figures to turn to Rifaat when Hafez fell ill in 1983 and they feared he would not recover.
Rifaat’s rivalry with Hafez peaked in 1984 when he ordered his forces to seize key points in Damascus, threatening all-out conflict, before Hafez talked him down.
Rifaat then left Syria after the failed coup. He later established himself as a wealthy businessman in Europe, settling first in Geneva and later moving to France and Spain, where Reuters said he was seen in Puerto Banus in Marbella.
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His wealth became the subject of corruption investigations. In 2020, a French court found him guilty of acquiring millions of euros’ worth of French property using funds diverted from the Syrian state, sentencing him to four years in jail and ordering the seizure of his property in France, estimated at €100 million at the time, along with a property worth €29 million in London.
Rifaat repeatedly denied the accusations.
He allegedly returned to Syria in October 2021 after over a decade away, with a pro-government newspaper saying he had come back to avoid imprisonment in France and would play no political or social role.
A photo posted on social media in April 2023 showed him among a group of people, including a smiling Bashar.
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