Rifaat, in his late 80s, was brother to Assad’s father, the late president Hafez al-Assad, and led elite forces that crushed a 1982 Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the city of Hama, killing more than 10,000 people. In 2022, the independent Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) monitoring group alleged that between 30,000 to 40,000 civilians had been killed in Hama.
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20241227-butcher-of-hama-assad-s-uncle-rifaat-fled-to-dubai-say-lebanese-officials-syria