Rifaat al-Assad, Paramilitary Commander Linked to 1982 Hama Massacre, Dies at 88

Rifaat al-Assad, the Syrian paramilitary leader long accused of directing the 1982 massacre in Hama, has died at 88, his son Siwar al-Assad announced on social media. The Dubai news site Voice of Emirates reported that Mr. Assad died in Dubai, where he had been living in exile. Mr.

Assad commanded the elite paramilitary Defense Forces when his brother, President Hafez al-Assad, sent him to suppress an uprising in Hama in February 1982. The operation, which earned him the nickname “the butcher of Hama,” killed up to 40,000 civilians, according to the reporting, and involved an indiscriminate bombardment that began on Feb.

2 using the Syrian Air Force and ground troops. He was later accused of other atrocities, including a 1980 massacre of prisoners at Tadmore in which 600 to 1,000 were killed. Swiss prosecutors indicted him in 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, saying he had “ordered murders, acts of torture, acts of cruelty, and illegal imprisonments.” In 2020 a French court sentenced him to four years for embezzlement and ordered his properties seized; he never served time for the Hama operation and amassed properties estimated at more than $800 million, including residences in Paris, London and Spain.

Born on Aug. 22, 1937, in al-Qardaha, Mr. Assad studied at Damascus University, joined the military after the Baath takeover in 1963 and rose to lead the Defense Companies.

Key Topics

World, Rifaat Al-assad, Hama Massacre, Defense Companies, Tadmore Prison, Hafez Al-assad