Jan 21 (Reuters) - Rifaat al-Assad, the brother of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad known by critics as the "butcher of Hama" for crushing an Islamist uprising in the city in 1982 before unsuccessfully challenging for power and going into exile, died on Tuesday.
He was 88. He died in the United Arab Emirates, two sources with knowledge of his passing said.
A former army officer who helped Hafez al-Assad seize power in a 1970 coup and establish his iron rule, Rifaat continued to harbour presidential ambitions during years of exile spent mostly in France. He returned to Syria in 2021, before fleeing again in 2024 following the ouster of his nephew, President Bashar al-Assad.
When Hafez died in 2000, Rifaat objected to the power transfer to Bashar and declared himself the legitimate successor in what proved to be an ultimately toothless leadership challenge.
He weighed in from abroad again in 2011 as rebellion swept Syria, urging his nephew to step down quickly to prevent civil war. But he also deflected blame away from Bashar, attributing the revolt against his rule to an accumulation of errors.
More than a decade later, Bashar - still in power at the time - allowed his uncle to return home, helping him escape jail in France where he was found guilty of acquiring millions of euros of property using funds diverted from the Syrian state.
When Bashar fell, Rifaat had tried to escape via a Russian airbase but was denied entry and eventually crossed to Lebanon, carried over a river on the back of a close associate, according to one of the sources, who had direct knowledge of the incident.
HAMA ASSAULT
Rifaat al-Assad, a younger brother to Hafez, was born in the village of Qardaha in a mountainous area near the Mediterranean coast which forms the heartland of the minority Alawite community to which the family belongs.
Rifaat became a powerful figure in the Assad regime after the 1970 coup. He commanded the loyalty of elite forces that crushed the 1982 Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama, one of the biggest threats to Hafez al-Assad during his 30-year rule.
The devastating three-week assault, which killed more than 10,000 people, has often been described as a model for how Bashar would deal with the rebellion against his rule some three decades later.
In 2022 the independent Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) monitoring group, citing informed estimates, alleged that between 30,000 and 40,000 civilians were killed in Hama.
In March 2024, the Attorney General's Office of Switzerland said that it would put Rifaat al-Assad on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions in Hama.
According to the Swiss prosecutors' indictment, between 3,000 and 60,000 people, the majority civilians, died in the Hama assault. In response Rifaat's lawyers said in a statement that he had always denied any involvement in the alleged acts.
CONFRONTATION WITH HAFEZ
His role in crushing the Hama insurrection further elevated his standing in that administration.
In his book - "Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East" - journalist Patrick Seale listed victory over the Brotherhood as one of the factors that led senior regime figures to turn to Rifaat when Hafez fell ill in 1983 and they feared he would not recover.
He was appointed vice president the following year.
While Hafez was still unwell, Rifaat started pressing for changes in government, and posters of him in uniform appeared in Damascus. When Assad recovered, he was "extremely displeased", Seale wrote.
Their rivalry culminated in 1984 when Rifaat ordered his forces to seize control of key points in Damascus, threatening all-out conflict. But Hafez talked his younger brother down from confrontation.
Rifaat left Syria after the failed coup.
AVOIDING PRISON
Establishing himself as a rich businessman in Europe, he initially settled in Geneva, later moving to France and Spain.
In his later years, he could be seen walking with an entourage of bodyguards in southern Spain’s Puerto Banus in Marbella, where he also had seaside property.
But his wealth increasingly became the focus of corruption investigations.
In 2020, a French court found him guilty of acquiring millions of euros' worth of French property using funds diverted from the Syrian state, and sentenced him to four years in jail.
All of his property in France, estimated to be worth 100 million euros at the time, was ordered seized, as well as a property worth 29 million euros in London.
Rifaat repeatedly denied the accusations.
His return to Syria in 2021 was not the first time he had gone home since the failed coup: in 1992, he attended his mother's funeral.
A pro-government newspaper reported he had returned in 2021 "in order to prevent his imprisonment in France" and would play no political or social role.
A photo posted on social media in April 2023 showed him among a group of people, including a smiling Bashar.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari and Tom Perry; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by William Maclean and Olivier Holmey)
