Rifaat al-Assad
| Rifaat Ali al-Assad رفعت علي الأسد |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Vice President of Syria | |
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In office 11 March 1984 – 8 February 1998 |
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| President | Hafez al-Assad |
| Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch | |
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In office 15 April 1975 – 8 February 1998 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 August 1937 Qardaha District, Syria |
| Political party | Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party |
| Religion | Alawite |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United Arab Republic Syria
|
| Service/branch |
Syrian Arab Army Defense Companies |
| Years of service | 1958–84 |
| Rank |
 Major General
|
| Commands | Defense Companies |
| Battles/wars | |
1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution
Islamic uprising in Syria
Rifaat Ali al-Assad (Arabic: رفعت علي الأسد; born 22 August 1937) is the younger brother of the former President of Syria, Hafez Assad and Jamil Assad, and the uncle of the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad. He is alleged by some sources to be the commanding officer responsible for the Hama massacre of 1982. Recently declassified material back his claims that his brother Hafez al-Assad was responsible, as do a number of commentators. He himself has always denied responsibility. He currently lives in France.
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.
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). 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. 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.
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