In the Val-d’Oise, an estate and families abandoned by Rifaat al-Assad – Liberation

Came to serve the uncle of dictator Bashar al-Assad in the 1980s, dozens of Syrians still live on his property, which has become unsanitary since the conviction of their boss.

The roar of an engine disturbs the calm of a beautiful autumn day in the heights of the Montmorency forest. It comes from the electric generator that supplies the domain of Saint-Jacques in Bessancourt in the Val-d’Oise, belonging to Rifaat al-Assad. After the conviction on appeal of the latter at the beginning of September for money laundering and ill-gotten assets and the seizure of its real estate fortune, Enedis cut the power for unpaid invoices accumulated by the Sarl, registered owner of the castle and its outbuildings. Dilapidated buildings, but still inhabited by Syrian families who arrived in France since the 1980s, in the luggage of their “boss”. Abandoned now without resources, or protector, or even pensions because they have always been paid without being declared. “Seventy-nine people still live here today”, confirms us one of the rare inhabitants of the field crossed near the places. The young Syrian does not want to linger and says the great distrust of all vis-à-vis journalists. The publication of several reports on the property has been very poorly received here. They also fear reprisals against their families in Syria since Rifaat al-Assad returned to the country.

There is therefore no question of approaching and even less of crossing the high wrought iron gate which …