Rifaat al-Assad
He was born in Al Qardahah, Syria on 22 August 1937.
He died in Dubai on 20 January 2026.
He was 88 years old at the time of death.
He was a Military Personnel, Politician.
Rifaat Ali Suleiman al-Assad was a Syrian military officer and politician, best known as the younger brother of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad and uncle of Bashar al-Assad. He held senior positions within Syria’s military and political establishment during the rule of his brother.
Rifaat became widely associated with the 1982 Hama massacre, in which Syrian government forces carried out a deadly crackdown on an uprising in the city of Hama. He was reported to have played a leading role in commanding ground operations during the crackdown.
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