Rifaat Assad, on Trial for Fraud, Hospitalized in Paris

Rifaat Assad. (AP file photo)
Rifaat Assad. (AP file photo)
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Rifaat Assad, on Trial for Fraud, Hospitalized in Paris

Rifaat Assad. (AP file photo)
Rifaat Assad. (AP file photo)

Rifaat Assad, uncle of the Syrian regime leader, has been hospitalized in Paris while standing trial for money laundering, his son told AFP Tuesday.

"He has been in intensive care since last night (Monday)" at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine west of Paris, Siwar al-Assad said.

Rifaat al-Assad suffered from a form of internal bleeding "and is not very well". He will need to stay in intensive care for two or three days.

The younger brother of the late Syrian president Hafez Assad -- father of the current president Bashar -- is standing trial in Paris for crimes allegedly committed between 1984 and 2016, including aggravated tax fraud and misappropriation of Syrian funds.

The charges relate to his vast property empire in France.

France's national finance prosecutor called Monday for a four-year prison sentence and a 10-million-euro fine.

The prosecutor also called for the confiscation of all his real estate, valued at 90 million euros ($99.5 million).

Rifaat al-Assad, who divides his time between France and Britain, denies the charges.

The 82-year-old, dubbed the "Butcher of Hama" for allegedly commanding troops who put down an uprising in central Syria in 1982, has been under investigation in France since 2014.

Formerly Syria's vice president, Assad left his home country in 1984 after mounting a failed coup against his brother Hafez, who led Syria from 1971 to 2000.

After he arrived in Europe, Rifaat al-Assad's lavish lifestyle, four wives and 16 children soon raised eyebrows.

His reported French fortune includes two Paris townhouses, one measuring 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet), as well as a stud farm, a chateau and 7,300 square meters of office space in Lyon.

He and his family also built up a huge portfolio of 507 properties in Spain, valued at around 695 million euros, Spanish legal documents show. All his properties in that country were seized by the authorities in 2017.

Assad's trial opened on December 9.

This is only the second trial of a foreign dignitary in France on charges related to "ill-gotten gains".

In the first, Equatorial Guinea vice president Teodorin Obiang received a three-year suspended jail term in October 2017 after being convicted of using public money to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Paris.



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill 15

A man carries the body of a child during the funeral of Palestinians killed overnight in Israeli attacks on a tent and on people seeking aid, according to Gaza's health ministry, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
A man carries the body of a child during the funeral of Palestinians killed overnight in Israeli attacks on a tent and on people seeking aid, according to Gaza's health ministry, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill 15

A man carries the body of a child during the funeral of Palestinians killed overnight in Israeli attacks on a tent and on people seeking aid, according to Gaza's health ministry, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
A man carries the body of a child during the funeral of Palestinians killed overnight in Israeli attacks on a tent and on people seeking aid, according to Gaza's health ministry, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

Gaza's civil defense agency said Friday that overnight Israeli strikes killed at least 15 people, after nearly 21 months of war in the Palestinian territory.

Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the territory's population of more than two million.

Gaza civil defense official Mohammad al-Mughayyir told AFP that seven people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli air strike on displaced people's tents near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

Mughayyir said eight more people were killed in two other strikes on tent encampments on the coast of Khan Yunis, including one that killed two children early Friday.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific attacks without precise coordinates, but noted it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities".

On Thursday, the agency reported that 73 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense.

Israel's military campaign has killed at least 57,130 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.