Known for role in brutal suppression in the 1980s, the former Defence Brigades head has died after a brief illness
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Rifaat al-Assad, who was the uncle of the deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and was known as the “Butcher of Hama” for suppressing an uprising in the 1980s, has died aged 88, two sources close to the family have said.
Once a pillar of the Assad family’s dynastic rule, Rifaat “died after suffering from influenza for around a week”, one source who worked in Syria’s presidential palace for more than three decades told AFP on Wednesday.
A second source, an ex-officer of Syria’s army in the Assad era, confirmed the death, saying Rifaat had moved to the United Arab Emirates after his nephew’s government was toppled by rebels in December 2024, without specifying whether he died there.
