Syria's Footloose Black Sheep

By DAVID ELLIS

Life in exile isn't so bad -- just ask Rifaat Assad, the fiftysomething brother of Syrian strongman Hafez Assad. Rifaat once ran a 20,000-man militia at home but was kicked out of the country in 1983 when Hafez Assad began to worry about his sibling's lust for power. Since then Rifaat has lived the lush life of a global businessman, managing millions of dollars' worth of investments in Europe and the Middle East. He visits the properties with an entourage of 20 that includes his two wives and several shapely female "secretaries," all traveling aboard two customized 727 airliners he owns. But he's not likely to visit old haunts in Damascus anytime soon. When asked about that destination, an aide shook his head and ominously drew a finger, knifelike, across his throat.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart