DAMASCUS: Rifaat Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar Assad and dubbed the “Butcher of Hama” for suppressing an uprising in the 1980s, has died aged 88, two sources close to the family said Wednesday. 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 over three decades told AFP.

Known for role in brutal suppression in the 1980s, the former Defence Brigades head has died after a brief illness

DAMASCUS: Rifaat Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar Assad and dubbed the “Butcher of Hama” for suppressing an uprising in the 1980s, has died aged 88, two sources close…

The ‘Butcher of Hama’ and former Syrian vice president dies in exile at age 89.