Rifaat al-Assad, Syria’s ‘butcher of Hama’, dies at 88, family says

Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and infamous for his brutal suppression of a Muslim Brotherhood uprising that earned him the nickname “the butcher of Hama”, has died aged 88 in the United Arab Emirates. Once one of the most powerful figures in Syria, Rifaat later vied for the presidency and was ultimately forced into exile.