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. Later declassified material backs his claims that his brother Hafez al-Assad was responsible, as do a number of commentators. Despite accusations, Rifaat has always denied culpability.
Rifaat al-Assad | |
|---|---|
رِفْعَتُ ٱلْأَسَدِ | |
| Vice President of Syria | |
| In office 11 March 1984 – 8 February 1998 | |
| President | Hafez al-Assad |
| Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch | |
| In office 15 April 1975 – 8 February 1998 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 August 1937 Qardaha, Alawite State, Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (now Qardaha, Latakia Governorate, Syria) |
| Political party | Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party |
| Spouse(s) | Amira al-Assad Sana' Makhluf Rajaa Bakrat Lina al-Khayer |
| Relations | Jamil al-Assad (brother) Hafez al-Assad (brother) |
| Children | Siwar al-Assad Ribal al-Assad |
| Alma mater | Damascus University (BA) Soviet Academy of Sciences (PhD) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Arab Republic Syria |
| Branch/service | Syrian Arab Army Defense Companies |
| Years of service | 1958–1984 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands | Defense Companies |
| Battles/wars | Six-Day War 1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution Islamist uprising in Syria
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After launching a failed coup attempt against Hafez al-Assad in 1984, 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. In September 2022, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed the ruling.
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.