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Rifaat al-Assad

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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.[2][3]

Major General
Rifaat al-Assad
رفعت الأسد‎
Rifaat al-Assad (c.1980s)
Vice President of Syria
In office
11 March 1984 – 8 February 1998
PresidentHafez al-Assad
Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch
In office
15 April 1975 – 8 February 1998
Personal details
Born (1937-08-22) 22 August 1937 (age 87)
Qardaha, Alawite State, Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
(now Qardaha, Latakia Governorate, Syria)[1]
Political partyBa'ath Party
Spouse(s)Amira al-Assad
Sana' Makhluf
Rajaa Bakrat
Lina al-Khayer
RelationsJamil al-Assad (brother)
Hafez al-Assad (brother)
ChildrenSiwar al-Assad
Ribal al-Assad
Alma materDamascus University (BA) Soviet Academy of Sciences (PhD)
Military service
Allegiance United Arab Republic
 Syria
Branch/service Syrian Arab Army
Defense Companies
Years of service1958–1984
Rank Major General
CommandsDefense Companies
Battles/warsSix-Day War
1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution
Islamist uprising in Syria

After launching a failed coup attempt against Hafez al-Assad in 1984,[4][5] 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.[6][7] In September 2022, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed the ruling.[8]

In August 2023, Switzerland issued an international warrant for Rifaat's arrest 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. In March 2024, the Swiss OAG charged Rifaat with numerous crimes committed in the February 1982 Hama massacre.[9][10][11][12]

Early life and education

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Rifaat al-Assad was born in the village of Qardaha, near Lattakia in western Syria on 22 August 1937. He studied Political Science and Economics at Damascus University and was later given an honorary PhD in Politics from the Soviet Academy of Sciences.[1]

Early experience

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Rifaat joined the Syrian Arab Army in 1958 as a first lieutenant, and was rapidly promoted after training in various Soviet military academies (mainly in the Yekaterinburg Artillery school).[1] In 1965, he became commander of a special security force loyal to the military wing of the Ba'ath and soon, supported Hafez al-Assad's overthrow of Salah Jadid and seizure of power in 1970.[1] He was allowed to form his own paramilitary group, the Defense Companies, in 1971, which soon transformed into a powerful and regular military force trained and armed by the Soviet Union. He was a qualified paratrooper.

Under Hafez's rule

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Rifaat al-Assad with Hafez al-Assad, 1980

Rifaat played a key role in his brother's takeover of executive power in 1970, dubbed the Corrective Revolution, and ran the elite internal security forces and the Defense Companies (Arabic: سرايا الدفاع; Sarāyā ad-Difāʿ) in the 1970s and early 1980s.[13][14] In addition to his military posture, Rifaat created the "League of Higher Graduates" (Arabic: رابطة الخريجين العليا, Rabitat al kharijin al-'ulia ), which provided discussion forums on public affairs for Syrian post-graduates, outside the constraints of the Ba'ath party. With more than fifteen branches across Syria, this cultural project gathered tens of thousands of members.[15] He had a pivotal role throughout the 1970s and, until 1984, many saw him as the likely successor to his elder brother. Hafez Assad appointed him second vice president in March 1984.[16]

In 1976, he visited Lebanon as a guest of Tony Frangiyeh since they had close and personal ties.[17]

On 28 June 1979 fifteen men were hanged in Damascus. They had been convicted of attempting to assassinate Rifaat al-Assad.[18]

Foreign relations

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Numerous rumours tie Rifaat al-Assad to various foreign interests. Rifaat was close to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.[19][20] Abdullah was married to a sister of Rifaat's wife, and Rifaat has on occasions—even after his public estrangement from the rulers in Syria—been invited to Saudi Arabia, with pictures of him and the royal family displayed in the state-controlled press.

After the Iraq War, there were press reports that he had started talks with US government representatives on helping to form a coalition with other anti-Assad groups to provide an alternative Syrian leadership, on the model of the Iraqi National Congress. Rifaat has held a meeting with the former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Yossef Bodansky, the director of the US Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, has stated that Rifaat enjoys support from both the United States and Saudi Arabia; he has been featured in the Saudi press as visiting the royal family in 2007. The Bashar government remains wary of his intentions and carefully monitors his activities.

 
Rifaat al-Assad meets with Yasir Arafat, 1983

Rifaat was mentioned by the influential American think tank Stratfor as a possible suspect for the 2005 bombing that killed Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri and the string of attacks that struck Beirut after the subsequent Syrian withdrawal.[citation needed] The goal would have been to destabilize the Syrian government. However, there has been no mention of Rifaat in the United Nations Mehlis reports on the crime.

In 1983, Rifaat met with PLO leader Yasir Arafat in an attempt to appease growing tensions between Syria and Arafat's loyalists.[21] [22]

Ion Mihai Pacepa, a general in the security forces of Communist Romania who defected to the U.S. in 1978, claimed that Rifaat al-Assad was recruited by Romanian intelligence during the Cold War. In Pacepa's 1996 novel Red Horizons, Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu is quoted as saying that Rifaat was "eating out of our hand" and went on to say: "Do I need a back channel for secret political communications? A way to inform Hafez secretly about my future discussions with Carter? Do I need to have somebody disappear in the West? Rifaat will take care of it. Now he can't do without my money."[23] Pacepa later reasserted this allegation, describing Rifaat as "our well-paid agent" in a 2003 article in which he discussed the then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.[24]

Release of David S. Dodge

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Rifaat al-Assad contributed to the release of US politician and educator David S. Dodge on 21 July 1983.[25][26]

On 19 July 1982, Dodge was abducted by pro-Iranian militiamen, members of the Islamic Amal in Beirut, led by Hussein al-Musawi.[27] He was first held in Lebanon and then kept captive in Iran until his release one year later.[28] Through contacts in the Iranian regime of Khomeini, Rifaat was able to secure the release of Dodge and was publicly thanked by US president Ronald Reagan.[29]

On 21 July 1983 US deputy press secretary Larry Speakes stated:

The Government of the United States is grateful to Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad and to Dr. Rifaat al-Assad for the humanitarian efforts they undertook which led to Mr. Dodge’s release.[30]

Hama massacre

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See also: 1982 Hama massacre

In February 1982, as commander of the Defense Companies, he commanded the forces that put down a revolt in the city of Hama, by ordering his forces to shell the city with BM-21 Grad rockets, killing thousands of its inhabitants (reports of the total number of deaths range from between 10,000 and 40,000). This became known as the Hama Massacre.[9][10][11] Due to his high-profile role in the military campaign that killed tens of thousands of civilians and destroyed most sections of Hama city, Rifaat acquired the nickname "Butcher of Hama".[9][11][31] US journalist Thomas Friedman stated in his book From Beirut to Jerusalem that Rifaat later said that the total number of victims was 38,000.[32]

Rifaat, however, has repeatedly denied playing any role in the Hama massacre.[13][33][34] Rifaat al-Assad presented his version for the Hama massacre during the conference in Paris to form the Syrian National Democratic Council on 15 November 2011.[35] He was also implicated in the 1980 Tadmor Prison massacre and acquired the sobriquet, the "butcher of Tadmor."[36]

Rifaat al-Assad was also mentioned in a CIA report regarding drug smuggling activities in Syria during the 1980s, along with other Syrian officials such as Ali Haydar, Mustafa Tlass and Shafiq Fayadh.[37]

Attempted coup d'état

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Rifaat (left) with Hafez Assad in 1984.

When Hafez al-Assad suffered from heart problems in late 1983, he established a six-member committee to run the country composed of Abdul Halim Khaddam, Abdullah al-Ahmar, Mustafa Tlass, Mustafa al-Shihabi, Abdul Rauf al-Kasm and Zuhair Masharqa.[38] Rifaat was not included, and the council consisted entirely of close Sunni Muslim loyalists to Hafez, who were mostly lightweights in the military-security establishment. This caused unease in the Alawi-dominated officer corps, and several high-ranking officers began rallying around Rifaat, while others remained loyal to Hafez's instructions.

In March 1984, Rifaat's troops, now numbering more than 55,000 with tanks, artillery, aircraft and helicopters, began asserting control over Damascus. A squadron of Rifaat's T-72 tanks took position at the central roundabout of Kafr Sousa and in Mount Qasioun, overlooking the city.[39] Rifaat's forces set up checkpoints and roadblocks, put up posters of him in State buildings, disarmed regular troops and arbitrarily arrested soldiers of the regular Army, occupied and commandeered Police Stations, Intelligence buildings, and State buildings; the Defense Companies rapidly outnumbered and took control over both the Special Forces and the Republican Guard.[39] Although Damascus was divided between two armies and seemed on the brink of war, Rifaat did not move. Informed that Rifaat was heading to Damascus, his brother Hafez al Assad left his headquarters to meet him.

British journalist Patrick Seale reports an intimate moment between the two brothers :

At Rifat's home in Mezze the brothers were at last face to face. 'You want to overthrow the regime?' Asad asked. 'Here I am. I am the regime.' For an hour they stormed at each other but, in his role of elder brother and with his mother in the house, Asad could not fail to win the contest. Deferring to him at last, as he had so often done in their youths, Rifat chose to accept (although with some inward scepticism) Asad's pledge that trust between them would be restored and would be the basis for their future work together.[39]

There was a clear division and tensions between forces loyal to Hafez, namely the 3rd Armoured Division (commanded by General Shafiq Fayadh), the Republican Guard (commanded by General Adnan Makhlouf), the various Intelligence services (commanded by Generals Mohamed Khouli and Ali Duba), the National Police, and the Special Forces (commanded by General Ali Haidar); and the Defense Companies loyal to Rifaat. By the middle of 1984 Hafez had returned from his sick bed and assumed full control, at which point most officers rallied around him. Initially, it seemed that Rifaat was going to be put on trial and even faced a questioning that was broadcast on television. However, it is believed that Hafez's daughter Bushra actually saved her uncle by convincing her father that purging him would disgrace the family and might cause tensions not only in the Assad family, but with the Makhlouf family as well (since Rifaat is also married to a woman from that family, who are also the second most prevalent Alawite family, dominating the leadership of the security services behind the Assads).[40] In what at first seemed a compromise, Rifaat was made vice-president with responsibility for security affairs, but this proved a wholly nominal post. Command of the 'Defense Companies', which was trimmed down to an Armoured Division size, was transferred to another officer, and ultimately the entire unit was disbanded and absorbed into other units, like the 4th Mechanized Division, the Republican Guard, and the Airborne Special Forces Division. Rifaat was then sent to the Soviet Union on "an open-ended working visit". His closest supporters and others who had failed to prove their loyalty to Hafez were purged from the army and Ba'ath Party in the years that followed. Upon his departure, Rifaat acquired $US300 million of public money including a $US100 million Libyan loan. In 2015, he claimed that the money had been a gift from Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.[41]

During the 1990s

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See also: 1999 Latakia protests

Although he returned for his mother's funeral in 1992, and for some time lived in Syria, Rifaat was thereafter confined to exile in France and Spain. He nominally retained the post of vice president until 8 February 1998, when he was stripped of this.[42] He had retained a large business empire both in Syria and abroad, partly through his son Sumer. However, the 1999 crackdown, involving armed clashes in Lattakia, destroyed much of his remaining network in Syria; large numbers of Rifaat's supporters were arrested. This was seen as tied to the issue of succession, with Rifaat having begun to position himself to succeed the ailing Hafez, who in his turn sought to eliminate all potential competition for his designated successor, his son Bashar al-Assad.

In France, Rifaat has loudly protested against the succession of Bashar to the post of president, claiming that he himself embodies the "only constitutional legality" (as vice president, alleging his dismissal was unconstitutional). He has made threatening remarks about planning to return to Syria at a time of his choosing to assume "his responsibilities and fulfill the will of the people", and that while he will rule benevolently and democratically, he will do so with "the power of the people and the army" behind him.

Groups and organizations

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Rifaat's son Sumer is the head of a minor pan-Arab TV channel, the Arab News Network (ANN), which functions as his father's political mouthpiece. He also claims to run a political party, of uncertain fortunes. Rifaat himself heads the United National Group (al-tajammu' al-qawmi al-muwahhid), which is another political party or alliance; it is known to have self-professed members among Rifaat's fellow exiles from Syria, but neither can be considered an active organization,[citation needed] even if they regularly release statements in favor of Rifaat's return to Syria and protesting to president Bashar al-Assad. Further, Rifaat founded the Arab Democratic Party in Lebanon in the early 1970s, a small Alawite sectarian/political group in Lebanon, which during the Lebanese Civil War acted as an armed militia loyal to the Syrian government (through Rifaat).[43] Ali Eid, the general secretary of the party today, supports the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad.[citation needed]

Distinctions

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Ribbon Distinction Country Date Location Notes Reference
  Order of Military Merit (Commander) Morocco 1974 Rabat Sharifian (Royal) Order of Military Merit in Morocco. Awarded by King Hassan II [44]
  Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour France 1986 Paris Highest rank in the Order of the Legion of Honor in the Republic of France. Awarded by former president François Mitterrand[45] [46][47][48][49]
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In December 2013, human rights organization "Trial International" filed criminal proceedings against Rifaat al-Assad. As commander of Defense Brigades that took part in the Hama Massacre, Rifaat was charged with organizing extrajudicial killings, large-scale torture, sexual violence, mass-rapes, summary executions and forced disappearances.[50][11] An inquiry was launched by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on 19 December of the same year.[51]

Since 2014, Rifaat was accused of organised money laundering, aggravated tax fraud and embezzling Syrian funds to buy property worth at least €90 million in France.[52] In addition, Spanish authorities have seized his assets and bank accounts in a money laundering investigation since 2017.[53][54] In June 2020, a Paris court sentenced Rifaat to four years in prison; hence, his properties in Paris and London would be seized.[7]

In October 2021, Rifaat returned to Damascus at the age of 84. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allowed his uncle to return to the country after decades in exile in order "to avoid imprisonment in France".[55][56]

In September 2022, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed the four-year prison sentence.[57] In August 2023, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court ordered the extradition of Rifaat al-Assad, prompting their authorities to issue an arrest warrant to prosecute him.[9][10][11]

Personal life

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In 2010, Rifaat was living in Mayfair, London.[58][59] As of 2011 he was living in Avenue Foch, Paris,[60] while trying to sell his real estate properties.[61]

Rifaat married four times and his polygamous marriages as well as the marriages of his children have produced strong alliances and ties with prominent families and prestigious clans within Syria and the Arab world.[1] He firstly married one of his cousins, Amirah, from al-Qurdahah. Then, he married Salma Makhlouf, a cousin of Hafez Assad's wife, Anisa. His third spouse is a young woman from the traditional Sunni Muslim establishment, Rajaa Bakrat. His fourth wife, Lina al-Khayyir, is from one of the most prominent Alawite families in Syria.[1] The sister of one of his spouses was married to the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Rifaat's daughter Tumadir married Muin Nassif Kheir Beik, a member of the most powerful and prestigious Alawite family. His son-in-law is a relative of the Syrian activist and poet Kamal Kheir Beik.[62] Tamadhin, another daughter, married a Makhlouf. Lama married Ala Fayyad, the son of Alawite General Shafiq Fayadh. Rifaat's eldest son, Mudar, married Maya Haydar, the daughter of the ultra-rich entrepreneur Muhammad Haydar from the prominent al-Haddadin Alawite tribe.[1] His youngest son, Ribal Al-Assad, born 1975, is a businessman and political activist. He resided in Paris and has spoken frequently on French and international media on the Syrian crisis.[63]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Dossier: Rifaat Assad". Middle East Intelligence Bulletin. 2 (5). 1 June 2000. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  2. ^ "'The enforcer' who heads Syria's dreaded army division". FRANCE 24. 4 March 2012. Rifaat al-Assad is perhaps best-known for his role in personally overseeing the notorious 1982 Hama massacre, in which at least 10,000 people were killed.
  3. ^ "Assad's cousin: West is right to back Syrian opposition, but it is backing the wrong one". Haaretz. 29 March 2012. every report from the period clearly puts Rifat at the center of the Hama operation
  4. ^ Kifner, John (12 September 1984). "Assad's Brother exiled 'forever', Syrian declares". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023.
  5. ^ Hamidi, Ibrahim (11 October 2021). "Rifaat Assad: Challenged his Brother for Syria's Presidency, Aged in Exile, Pardoned by his Nephew". Asharq al-Awsat. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Uncle of Syria's Assad returns home from decades-long exile". France 24. 8 October 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Rifaat al-Assad: Syrian President's uncle jailed in France for money laundering". BBC News. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  8. ^ "French top court upholds prison sentence of Bashar al-Assad's uncle". Reuters. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d "War crimes in Syria: Switzerland Launches an international arrest warrant for the extradition of Rifaat al-Assad". Trial International. 16 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023.
  10. ^ a b c "Swiss prosecutors issue arrest warrant for Rifaat al-Assad". SWI swissinfo.ch. 16 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Switzerland issues arrest warrant for uncle of Syria's Assad". The National. 16 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Syrian president's uncle to stand trial in Switzerland for crimes against humanity". France 24. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Exiled Assad's uncle wants to lead Syria transition". Al Arabiya. AFP. 14 November 2011.
  14. ^ "Syria: The Syrian military unit called Saraya al-Difaa' (Difa'), its role in an alleged coup attempt in 1995, and the fate of its officers and men". Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 1 June 1998.
  15. ^ Seale, Patrick (8 February 1989). "Chapter 24: Brothers's war". Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press. p. 422. ISBN 978-0520069763.
  16. ^ "Syria's Assad forms new cabinet". Sarasota Herald Tribune. Damascus. AP. 12 March 1984. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  17. ^ C. R, Jonathan (23 June 1978). "Lebanese Christians Fight 'War' of Vengeance". The Washington Post. Assad's brother, Rifaat, and Tony Franjieh were close friends and business associates.
  18. ^ Middle East International No 103, 6 July 1979; pp.12-13
  19. ^ Henderson, Simon (24 July 2012). "The Prince and the Revolution". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The closeness between Rifaat and Abdullah is more than just kinship: They worked together in the early 1980s when Rifaat was leading the Defense Companies
  20. ^ Parker, Claire (9 December 2019). "The Prince and the Revolution". The Washington Times. much of the case will center on the circumstances of his exile from Syria and his friendship with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
  21. ^ C. R, Jonathan (25 June 1983). "Syria Abruptly Ousts Arafat As PLO Rebellion Mounts". The Washington Post. talks between Arafat and Assad's brother had gone well and that Arafat was convinced that Rifaat Assad had signaled willingness to intercede with the president to smooth over their growing differences.
  22. ^ Sadeq, Ali (8 July 2014). "Palestinians and the Assad regime: for history and generations to know". Middle East Monitor. At that time, he had arranged relations with Rifaat Al-Assad
  23. ^ Red Horizons: the 2nd Book. The True Story of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu's Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption, 1990. ISBN 0-89526-746-2, Page 188
  24. ^ "Ion Mihai Pacepa on Muammar Khaddafi on National Review Online". Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  25. ^ "FREED U.S. EDUCATOR THANKS SYRIANS FOR HELP". New York Times. AFP. 24 July 1983.
  26. ^ Wright, Robin (6 November 1986). "Free-lance terrorism undercuts Syria". csmonitor. He demanded that Mr. Dodge be returned. This demand eventually led to Dodge's freedom after a year-long captivity.
  27. ^ Dickey, Christopher (Fall 1987). "Assad and His Allies: Irreconcilable Differences?". Foreign Affairs. 66 (1). Council on Foreign Relations: 68. doi:10.2307/20043292. JSTOR 20043292. Mousavi first came to attention outside Lebanon in connection with the 1982 kidnapping of David Dodge
  28. ^ "AMERICAN IS FREED WITH HELP OF SYRIA". New York Times. AFP. 22 July 1983.
  29. ^ "His Brother's Keeper". Time. 19 December 1983. President Reagan publicly thanked him when, through contacts in the Iranian regime of Ayatullah Khomeini, Rifaat secured the release of David Dodge.
  30. ^ "Statement by Deputy Press Secretary Speakes on the Release of David Dodge in Beirut, Lebanon". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. AFP. 21 July 1983.
  31. ^ DIA: Syria – Muslim Brotherhood Pressure Intensifies (Report). DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. May 1982.
  32. ^ Friedman, p. 90
  33. ^ Al Arabiya on YouTube
  34. ^ "RT arabic" on YouTube
  35. ^ Video in Arabic with English subtitles on YouTube
  36. ^ Judith Miller (16 May 1997). God Has Ninety-Nine Names: Reporting from a Militant Middle East (reprint ed.). Simon and Schuster. p. 325. ISBN 9780684832289.
  37. ^ "Heroin Trafficking: The Syrian Connection" (PDF). CIA. 8 February 2012. pp. 3, 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2017.
  38. ^ Seale, Patrick (8 February 1989). "Chapter 24: Brothers's war". Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press. p. 427. ISBN 978-0520069763.
  39. ^ a b c Seale, Patrick (8 February 1989). "Chapter 24: Brothers's war". Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press. p. 434. ISBN 978-0520069763.
  40. ^ Dossier: Bushra Assad (September-October 2006) Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ القضاء الفرنسي يصادر ممتلكات لرفعت الأسد. Sky News Arabia (in Arabic). 9 September 2016.
  42. ^ Political Chronology of the Middle East. Routledge. 12 October 2012. p. 2038. ISBN 978-1-135-35673-6. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  43. ^ "Rifaat founded the Red Knights in northern Lebanon in the early 1970s and they were eventually instrumental in helping Yasser Arafat to slip by sea to Tripoli in 1983...""Naharnet Newsdesk - Rifaat Assad Resurrects Tripoli's 'Red Knights' to Stage Comeback to Syria". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
  44. ^ 500 greatest geniuses of the 21st century. Library of Congress Washington, DC 20540 United States: Raleigh, NC : American Biographical Institute. 2009. p. xxiii. ISSN 1940-8498.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  45. ^ "Syrian president's uncle under investigation for corruption and money laundering in France". The Telegraph. 28 June 2016.
  46. ^ "Biens mal acquis; ouverture du procès de Rifaat Al-Assad, oncle du président syrien". parismatch.fr (in French). Paris Match. 9 December 2019.
  47. ^ ""Biens mal acquis": ouverture du procès de l'oncle de Bachar al-Assad à Paris" (in French). Le Point. 9 December 2019.
  48. ^ "Le procès de l'oncle de Bachar al-Assad s'est ouvert sans lui à Paris" (in French). Ouest France. 9 December 2019.
  49. ^ ""Biens mal acquis": Rifaat al-Assad, oncle du président syrien, mis en examen à Paris" (in French). Sherpa. 28 June 2016.
  50. ^ "In Switzerland, Proceedings for war-crimes against Rifaat al-Assad". Trial International. 25 September 2017. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020.
  51. ^ "Ten years on, victims still hope a landmark trial will open in Switzerland against former Syrian vice-president Rifaat al-Assad". TRIAL International. 19 December 2023.
  52. ^ "Syrian president's uncle on trial in France for money laundering". BBC. 9 December 2019.
  53. ^ "Spanish raids seize Assad uncle's assets in corruption inquiry". BBC. 4 April 2017.
  54. ^ "Spanish court wants to try Syrian leader's uncle for money laundering". elpais.com. 22 November 2019.
  55. ^ "Arabic press review: Assad's uncle Rifaat returns to Syria to avoid French prison". Middle East Eye.
  56. ^ Hamidi, Ibrahim (26 October 2021). "A Once Powerful Patriarch Returns to an Unrecognizable Syria". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  57. ^ "French top court upholds prison sentence of Bashar al-Assad's uncle". Reuters. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  58. ^ Rayner, Gordon (12 June 2011). "Syria's 'Butcher of Hama' living in £10 million Mayfair townhouse". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  59. ^ "Robert Fisk: Freedom, democracy and human rights in Syria". The Independent. London. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  60. ^ "The Syrian Leader's Exiled Uncle Vows to Topple the Regime – TIME". Time. 24 November 2011. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  61. ^ Nabila Ramdani (6 October 2011). "Syria: Assad family 'selling off overseas property empire'". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  62. ^ Daniel Behar (2019). The New Austerity in Syrian Poetry (PhD thesis). Harvard University. p. 125. ISBN 9798684608926. ProQuest 2459634620.
  63. ^ Al-Assad, Ribal (28 April 2011). ""L'Iran ne laissera jamais le régime s'effondrer" ("Assad: Iran will never let the regime fall")". France 24 (in French). Retrieved 6 November 2019.

Bibliography

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  • Thomas L. Friedman (2012). "4. Hama Rules". From Beirut to Jerusalem (Revised ed.). Picador. ISBN 978-1250015495.
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Political offices
Preceded by
(No Vice Presidents appointed)
 Vice President of Syria
1984–1998 		Succeeded by
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