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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.

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Arab World

Sudanese Powers Sign Declaration of Principles to End the War 

The gatherers in Nairobi held the warring parties and their allies fully responsible for any violations and war crimes. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The gatherers in Nairobi held the warring parties and their allies fully responsible for any violations and war crimes. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Sudanese Powers Sign Declaration of Principles to End the War 

The gatherers in Nairobi held the warring parties and their allies fully responsible for any violations and war crimes. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The gatherers in Nairobi held the warring parties and their allies fully responsible for any violations and war crimes. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The political and civilian parties of Sudan’s Somoud alliance signed in Nairobi on Tuesday a joint declaration of principles with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur, and the Arab Socialist Baath Party to end the war in Sudan and completely eliminate the Islamic movement from politics.

The declaration is the first act of rapprochement between Sudanese parties that are opposed to the ongoing war between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Former Prime Minister and Somoud leader Abdalla Hamdok was among the signatories.

The declaration said that “there can be no military solution to the crisis”, urging the immediate end to the war.

It called for greater pressure to be applied on the military and RSF to end the conflict and commit to the roadmap drafted by the international Quad that includes Saudi Arabia, the US, United Arab Emirates and Egypt in August.

The declaration called for the swift implementation of a proposed three-month humanitarian truce and for an unconditional ceasefire.

Sudan Liberation Movement/Army deputy leader Abdullah Harran said the signatories of the declaration agreed on the need to expand it further and to bring in more parties to sign it, excluding the ousted National Congress.

Harran told a press conference that the declaration aims to establish a wide popular civilian base that will embark on a transitional phase, leading up to holding free and transparent elections.

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army holds some regions in central Darfur and has extended its influence in northern parts of the province. It has received tens of thousands of refugees from el-Fasher in areas under its control.

Leading member of the Arab Socialist Baath Party Wajdi Saleh said the gatherers in Nairobi agreed on a “unified vision” to end the war.

They signed three documents, he revealed. The first is the declaration of principles to build a new nation, the second is a roadmap to stop the war and the third aims to designate the National Congress and Islamic movement as terrorist.

Moreover, he declared that the warring parties would be barred from taking part in the democratic transition.

The gatherers held the warring parties and their allies fully responsible for any violations and war crimes, calling on regional and international powers, led by the Quad, to intervene decisively to implement a humanitarian truce.

Arab World

Israeli Settler Kills 16-Year-Old Palestinian in West Bank, Mayor Says

Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)
Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)
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Israeli Settler Kills 16-Year-Old Palestinian in West Bank, Mayor Says

Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)
Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)

An Israeli settler shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian in Tuqu' on Tuesday after the funeral of another teenager, the town's mayor said.

Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023. Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have increased sharply, with the UN reporting the highest number of attacks on record in October.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Muheeb Jibril's death on Tuesday.

"Today, after the funeral of 16-year-old Ammar Sabah, who was killed yesterday by the Israeli army in the town center, a number of youths were gathered by the main street when a settler shot 16-year-old Muheeb Jibril in the head," Tuqu' Mayor Mohammed al-Badan told Reuters by telephone.

Israeli forces killed Sabah on Monday during a military raid on the town, the Palestinian health ministry said. The military said the incident was under review. It said rocks were thrown at soldiers who used riot dispersal means and later responded with fire.

The West Bank is home to 2.7 million Palestinians who have limited self-rule under Israeli military occupation. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled there.

Most world powers deem Israel's settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal, and numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.

Israel denies the illegality of the settlements, citing biblical and historical connections to the land.

Arab World

Family of Bondi Hero in Syria Says His Home Country Is Proud of Him

Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Family of Bondi Hero in Syria Says His Home Country Is Proud of Him

Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)

As Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years unfolded, a Sydney shop owner was captured on camera charging at one of the gunmen and disarming him. Halfway around the world in Syria, a group of men watching the footage recognized a familiar face.

Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, left his hometown in Syria's northwest province of Idlib nearly 20 years ago to seek work in Australia. On Sunday, he was wounded after wrestling a rifle away from a man attacking a Jewish holiday event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in which 15 people were killed.

SYRIA IS 'PROUD OF HIM'

His uncle, Mohammed al-Ahmed, recognized him from footage circulating online.

"We learned through social media. I called his father and he told me that it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero, we're proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him," the uncle told Reuters.

The family hails from the town of Nayrab, which was bombed heavily during Syria's nearly 14-year war, which ended when longtime leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in an opposition offensive launched from Idlib last year.

Ahmed said his nephew left Syria in 2006 after completing a degree at Aleppo University. He hasn't been back since.

"Since he was young, he was gallant and a hero," his uncle said, describing him as a happy and passionate person.

"He acted impulsively without thinking who the people were that were being killed - without knowing their religion, if they were Muslim or Christian or Jewish. That's what made him jump up and carry out this heroic act."

'PEACEMAKERS, NOT WARMONGERERS'

Ahmed, who now holds Australian citizenship and has two daughters, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds. He has been hailed as a hero around the world, including by US President Donald Trump.

A GoFundMe campaign set up for him has raised more than A$2.2 million ($1.5 million).

Back at home, the Ahmed family home remains in ruins. Piles of smashed cinderblocks ring the concrete carcass of the two-storey house, whose walls are punctured by shelling.

"This is Ahmed's father's home. It got destroyed during the war. Bombing, bombing from planes, missiles - every type of weapon," Ahmed's cousin, who is also named Mohammad al-Ahmed, told Reuters.

He said his cousin "was the reason that many innocent people who did nothing wrong were saved."

"He will prove to the world that Muslims are peacemakers, not warmongers," said Ahmed.