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French Jail Term Confirmed for Rifaat Assad

AFP file photo of Rifaat al-Assad
AFP file photo of Rifaat al-Assad
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French Jail Term Confirmed for Rifaat Assad

AFP file photo of Rifaat al-Assad
AFP file photo of Rifaat al-Assad

The Paris appeals court on Thursday backed a guilty verdict against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's uncle for misappropriating public funds in Syria, laundering the spoils and building a vast property portfolio in France with ill-gotten gains.

The court confirmed last year's four-year prison sentence against 84-year-old Rifaat al-Assad, which he may not have to serve given his advanced age.

But the confiscation of his French real estate assets, worth an estimated 90 million euros ($106 million), ordered at his initial trial, will now go ahead.

The younger brother of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad -- father of the incumbent president -- was tried for crimes allegedly committed between 1984 and 2016, including aggravated tax fraud and misappropriation of Syrian funds, AFP reported.

A Paris court last June dismissed charges against Assad for the period 1984 to 1996, but found him guilty of organized laundering of funds embezzled from the Syrian public purse between 1996 and 2016. He was also convicted of tax fraud.

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Sudan Army Says Retakes Khartoum-Area Market from RSF

A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
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Sudan Army Says Retakes Khartoum-Area Market from RSF

A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)

The Sudanese army said on Saturday it had taken control of a major market in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, long used by its rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a staging ground for attacks.

It is the latest conquest in the army's major offensive this month to wrest back control of the entire capital region, which includes Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri -- three cities split by branches of the River Nile.

The blitz saw the army recapture the presidential palace on March 21, followed by the war-damaged airport and other key sites in the city center.

In a statement, army spokesman Nabil Abdullah said forces extended "their control over Souq Libya in Omdurman" and seized "weapons and equipment left behind by" the RSF as they fled.

Souq Libya, one of the largest and busiest in the Khartoum area, had for months been an RSF stronghold and a launchpad for attacks on northern and central Omdurman since the war with the army began on April 15, 2023.

While the army already controls much of Omdurman, the RSF still holds ground in the city's west, particularly in Ombada district.

Late Thursday, the military spokesman said that the army had "cleansed" Khartoum itself from "the last pockets" of the RSF.

Sudan's war began almost two years ago during a power struggle between the army and the RSF, a paramilitary force that was once its ally.

Khartoum has seen more than 3.5 million of its people flee since the war began, according to the United Nations. Millions more, unable or unwilling to leave, live among abandoned buildings, wrecked vehicles and what the army says are hidden mass graves.

The war has carved Sudan in two: the army holds sway in the east and north while the RSF controls most of Darfur in the west, and parts of the south.