Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, has died at the age of 88, according to two sources close to the family on Wednesday. He was a controversial figure best known for his role in suppressing an uprising in Hama in 1982, which earned him the nickname “the Butcher of Hama.”
Once a powerful figure within the Syrian regime, Rifaat al-Assad “died after suffering from influenza for around a week,” one source, who has worked in Syria’s presidential palace for over three decades, told AFP. Another source, a former Syrian army officer, confirmed his death. Following the collapse of his nephew’s government in December 2024, Rifaat had relocated to the United Arab Emirates.
His reputation was defined by his command of the elite “Defence Brigades” during a crackdown on an armed revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood in February 1982. Under the rule of his brother, then-President Hafez al-Assad, government forces launched a 27-day siege on the city of Hama. While an official death toll was never released, estimates of those killed range from 10,000 to 40,000.
In recent years, Rifaat al-Assad faced legal challenges in Europe. Swiss prosecutors had accused him of war crimes, including ordering “murders, acts of torture, inhumane treatment and illegal detentions.” In 2021, he returned to Syria from France to evade a four-year prison sentence for money laundering and misappropriating Syrian public funds.
Despite a failed coup attempt against his brother Hafez in 1984 which led to his long exile, Rifaat was seen in a family photo with Bashar al-Assad in 2023. After Bashar’s government was overthrown, Rifaat fled Syria once more.
Human rights organizations expressed regret that he died before facing full accountability for his alleged crimes. NGO Trial International stated that his death “closes a major chapter of their quest for justice” for the victims of the Hama massacre.
