EXPLAINER
‘Butcher of Hama’ and former Syrian vp, convicted of cash laundering in France and accused of battle crimes in Switzerland, has died at age 89.
Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the previous commander of the paramilitary “Defence Corporations” (Saraya al-Difa), has died within the United Arab Emirates on the age of 89.
The Reuters information company cited two sources confirming his demise on January 21, 2026. Rifaat had reportedly fled from Beirut to Dubai following the collapse of the Assad regime and the flight of his nephew to Russia in December 2024.
Born in Qardaha, northwestern Syria, in 1937, Rifaat, a member of the nation’s Alawite minority, was a central determine within the institution of the Assad household’s rule within the Seventies. However he fell out along with his brother, former President Hafez al-Assad, following a failed coup try within the early Nineteen Eighties.
Here’s a transient timeline of the principle occasions in the course of the life and profession of the person generally known as the “Butcher of Hama”.
The Hama bloodbath
Rifaat was infamous for his position within the 1982 crackdown on town of Hama to suppress an rebellion by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Commanding the Defence Corporations – a power of roughly 40,000 troopers unbiased of the common military – Rifaat led a siege on town that lasted almost a month. The operation concerned heavy shelling and floor assaults.
Based on a 2022 report by the Syrian Community for Human Rights, the marketing campaign resulted in roughly 40,000 deaths, and 17,000 individuals went lacking. The assault destroyed whole neighbourhoods, together with 79 mosques and three church buildings.
In a 2011 televised interview, Rifaat denied accountability for the occasions, claiming he “didn’t know Hama” and attributing the orders to his brother, Hafez.
Rifaat’s rise to energy – and a failed coup
Rifaat joined the Baath occasion in 1952 and rose via the navy ranks. He performed a key safety position within the 1970 coup, which introduced overthrew the previous head of state, Salah Jadid, and introduced Hafez al-Assad to energy.
Within the late Seventies, because the regime confronted inner opposition, Rifaat advocated for excessive measures. In a 1979 speech at a Baath occasion congress, he reportedly steered “Stalinist” strategies to purge opposition and proposed closing mosques to curb “sectarian ideology”.
His affect peaked within the early Nineteen Eighties, however tensions along with his brother had been mounting. In November 1983, whereas Hafez was unwell, Rifaat tried to grab management, deploying his personal forces in Damascus. The confrontation led to a standoff.
By 1984, Hafez had regained management. Rifaat was stripped of his command, appointed to the ceremonial publish of vp and despatched into exile. Studies on the time steered he acquired $200m from Libyan chief Muammar Gaddafi as a part of a settlement to go away the nation.
Exile and authorized troubles
Rifaat spent the following 36 years primarily in Europe, the place he confronted a number of authorized challenges over the supply of his wealth.
- France: In 2020, a French courtroom sentenced him to 4 years in jail for cash laundering and misappropriation of Syrian public funds, confiscating actual property belongings value an estimated $100m.
- Switzerland: In August 2023, the Swiss Federal Legal Courtroom issued an arrest warrant for Rifaat for his alleged position in battle crimes dedicated in Hama in 1982.
- Belongings Frozen: Authorities within the UK and Spain additionally froze household belongings and investigated him for illicit monetary actions.
Return and demise
To keep away from imprisonment in France, Rifaat returned to Syria in October 2021. Regardless of his earlier calls in 2011 for Bashar al-Assad to step down, he appeared voting for his nephew within the Might 2021 election on the Syrian embassy in Paris.
Following the autumn of the Assad authorities in December 2024, Lebanese safety officers reported that Rifaat had left Syria for Dubai, the place he handed away in January 2026.
