Rifaat al-Assad
Rifaat Ali al-Assad (Arabic: رِفْعَتُ عَلِيِّ ٱلْأَسَدِ, romanized: Rifʿat al-ʾAsad; born 22 August 1937) is the younger brother of the late President of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, and Jamil al-Assad, and the uncle of the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad. He was the commanding officer of the ground operations of the 1982 Hama massacre ordered by Hafez al-Assad.[2][3]
Rifaat al-Assad
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After launching a failed coup attempt against Hafez al-Assad in 1984,[4][5] Rifaat lived in exile in France for 36 years and returned to Syria in October 2021 after being found guilty in France of acquiring millions of euros diverted from the Syrian state.[6][7] In September 2022, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed the ruling.[8]
In August 2023, Switzerland issued an international arrest warrant on Rifaat al-Assad after its Federal Criminal Court demanded his extradition to prosecute him for his role in supervising ground operations of the Hama Massacre. The warrant was issued as part of the proceedings related to the war-crimes complaint filed in 2013 by the human rights organization "TRIAL International" at the Swiss Office of Attorney General. In March 2024, the Swiss OAG charged Rifaat Al-Assad with numerous crimes committed in the February 1982 Hama massacre.[9][10][11][12]
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Personal life[edit]
In 2010, Rifaat was living in Mayfair, London.[58][59] As of 2011 he was living in Avenue Foch, Paris,[60] while trying to sell his real estate properties.[61]
Rifaat married four times and his polygamous marriages as well as the marriages of his children have produced strong alliances and ties with prominent families and prestigious clans within Syria and the Arab world .[1] He firstly married one of his cousins, Amirah, from al-Qurdahah. Then, he married Salma Makhlouf, a cousin of Hafez Assad's wife, Anisa. His third spouse is a young woman from the traditional Sunni Muslim establishment, Rajaa Bakrat. His fourth wife, Lina al-Khayyir, is from one of the most prominent Alawite families in Syria.[1] The sister of one of his spouses was married to the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
Rifaat's daughter Tumadir married Muin Nassif Kheir Beik, a member of the most powerful and prestigious Alawite family. His son-in-law is a relative of the Syrian activist and poet Kamal Kheir Beik.[62] Tamadhin, another daughter, married a Makhlouf. Lama married Ala Fayyad, the son of Alawite General Shafiq Fayadh. Rifaat's eldest son, Mudar, married Maya Haydar, the daughter of the ultra-rich entrepreneur Muhammad Haydar from the prominent al-Haddadin Alawite tribe.[1] His youngest son, Ribal Al-Assad, born 1975, is a businessman and political activist. He resided in Paris and has spoken frequently on French and international media on the Syrian crisis.[63]
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Rifaat al-Assad was born in the village of Qardaha, near Lattakia in western Syria on 22 August 1937. He studied Political Science and Economics at Damascus University and was later given an honorary PhD in Politics from the Soviet Academy of Sciences.[1]
Early experience[edit]
Rifaat joined the Syrian Arab Army in 1958 as a First Lieutenant, and was rapidly promoted after training in various Soviet military academies (mainly in the Yekaterinburg Artillery school).[1] In 1965, he became commander of a special security force loyal to the military wing of the Ba'ath and soon, supported Hafez al-Assad's overthrow of Salah Jadid and seizure of power in 1970.[1] He was allowed to form his own paramilitary group, the Defense Companies, in 1971, which soon transformed into a powerful and regular military force trained and armed by the Soviet Union. He was a qualified paratrooper.
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Legal issues in Europe and return to Syria[edit]
In December 2013, human rights organization "Trial International" filed criminal proceedings against Rifaat al-Assad. As commander of Defense Brigades that took part in the Hama Massacre, Rifaat was charged with organizing extrajudicial killings, large-scale torture, sexual violence, mass-rapes, summary executions and forced disappearances.[50][11] An inquiry was launched by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on 19 December of the same year.[51]
Since 2014, Rifaat was accused of organised money laundering, aggravated tax fraud and embezzling Syrian funds to buy property worth at least €90 million in France.[52] In addition, Spanish authorities have seized his assets and bank accounts in a money laundering investigation since 2017.[53][54]
In June 2020, a Paris court sentenced Rifaat to four years in prison; hence, his properties in Paris and London would be seized.[7] In September 2022, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed the four-year prison sentence.[55]
In October 2021, Rifaat returned to Damascus at the age of 84. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allowed his uncle to return to the country after decades in exile in order "to avoid imprisonment in France".[56][57]
In August 2023, the Federal Criminal Court ordered the extradition of Rifaat al-Assad, prompting Switzerland to issue an arrest warrant to prosecute him.[9][10][11]
Groups and organizations[edit]
Rifaat's son Sumer is the head of a minor pan-Arab TV channel, the Arab News Network (ANN), which functions as his father's political mouthpiece. He also claims to run a political party, of uncertain fortunes. Rifaat himself heads the United National Group (al-tajammu' al-qawmi al-muwahhid), which is another political party or alliance; it is known to have self-professed members among Rifaat's fellow exiles from Syria, but neither can be considered an active organization, even if they regularly release statements in favor of Rifaat's return to Syria and protesting to president Bashar al-Assad. Further, Rifaat founded the Arab Democratic Party in Lebanon in the early 1970s, a small Alawite sectarian/political group in Lebanon, which during the Lebanese Civil War acted as an armed militia loyal to the Syrian government (through Rifaat).[43] Ali Eid, the general secretary of the party today, supports the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad.
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22 August 1937
Qardaha, Alawite State, Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
(now Qardaha, Latakia Governorate, Syria)[1]
Amira al-Assad
Sana' Makhluf
Rajaa Bakrat
Lina al-Khayer
Jamil al-Assad (brother)
Hafez al-Assad (brother)
1958–1984
