"Butcher of Hama' and former Syrian vice president, convicted of money laundering in France and accused of war crimes in Switzerland, has died at age 89. Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the former commander of the paramilitary Defence Companies (Saraya al-Difa), has died in the United Arab Emirates at the age of 89. The Reuters news agency cited two sources confirming his death on January 21, 2026."
"Commanding the Defence Companies a force of approximately 40,000 soldiers independent of the regular army Rifaat led a siege on the city that lasted nearly a month. The operation involved heavy shelling and ground assaults. According to a 2022 report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the campaign resulted in approximately 40,000 deaths, and 17,000 people went missing. The assault destroyed entire neighbourhoods, including 79 mosques and three churches."
Rifaat al-Assad died in the United Arab Emirates at age 89, after fleeing Beirut for Dubai following the Assad regime's collapse and Bashar al-Assad's flight to Russia in December 2024. He served as commander of the paramilitary Defence Companies and as vice president, and was a central figure in establishing the Assad family's rule in the 1970s. Rifaat led the 1982 siege of Hama, a nearly month-long operation with heavy shelling that reportedly caused tens of thousands of deaths and destroyed whole neighbourhoods. He was convicted of money laundering in France and faced war-crimes accusations in Switzerland. He later fell out with his brother Hafez after a failed coup attempt.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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