Rifaat married four times and his polygamous marriages as well as the marriages of his children have produced strong alliances and ties with prominent families and prestigious clans within Syria and the Arab Mashriq. He firstly married to one of his cousins, Amirah, from al-Qurdahah. Then, he married Sana Makhlouf, a cousin of Hafez Assad's wife, Anisa. His third spouse is a young woman from the traditional Sunni Muslim establishment, Raja Barakat. His fourth wife, Lina al-Khayyir, is from one of the most prominent Alawite families in Syria. The sister of one of his spouses was married to the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.