New feud between two of Sydney’s biggest crime clans – The Alameddines and The Haouchars

Two of Sydney’s biggest allied crime families have turned on each other and police fear the next chapter of Sydney’s deadly gangland war will be written in blood overseas.

Two of the biggest names in Sydney’s underworld, who were formerly allies, are now in conflict – and their leaders are both within reach of each other in Lebanon.

The surnames Alameddine and Haouchar have been staples of Sydney’s crime landscape for decades, with the former’s alleged leader Rafat Alameddine believed to have spent time as a youngster learning his trade from Bilal Haouchar.

But in recent months the two are understood to not have been seeing eye-to-eye, with NSW Police and underworld sources both telling The Daily Telegraph about their feud and concerns over what it may escalate too.

“The Alameddines are fighting with Haouchar, we’ve got intelligence about that, so that’s a worry,” a NSW Police source said.

“They used to work together and the Alameddines were the little brother, but the little brother isn’t so little anymore and I think after they kept being told what to do, eventually the Alameddines told them where to go.”

Rafat Alameddine has been in Lebanon since last November and senior NSW Police sources say they believe he may have left the country for good. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Bilal Haouchar was one of Sydney’s most feared gangsters before he hastily left Australia in 2018, and moved to his parents’ homeland – Lebanon.

The alleged leader of the Alameddines, Rafat Alameddine, has been overseas since last November when he flew out of Australia bound for Lebanon – his parents homeland.

The feared Bilal Haouchar has been a resident of Lebanon since 2018 when he left Sydney in a hurry before police could put an ankle tracking bracelet on him.

With not only Rafat and Bilal living in Lebanon, but also several other high-profile crime figures, there are some who believe the next assassination in Sydney’s underworld war could actually occur overseas.

“It’s about to kick off in Lebanon, especially with Bill (Bilal Haouchar),” an underworld source said.

Rafat Alameddine is rumoured to be causing issues on the streets of Lebanon along with other Sydney gangsters who fled Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire

“There’s a lot of boys over there that have dramas with each other and even the locals know about it.

“They are calling them ‘the Aussies’. I had a call from a bloke in Lebanon the other day who said: There are a lot of dramas with ‘the Aussies’ here … so that tells you how bad it must be.”

Rafat Alameddine left Australia freely last November just weeks after being found not guilty in the NSW District Court on charges of carjacking, assaulting and stealing from an Uber driver.

While it was initially believed his trip overseas was just a “holiday”, five months on senior police are now of the view he may have left the country for good.

“He has been in Lebanon since November and I doubt very much that he will come back,” the source said.

“I think if he does come back it will not be weeks or months, but more likely years.

“He knows he is safe over there. He is a dual citizen and not that we want to at the minute, but if we in New South Wales were to make an application for his extradition from Lebanon, we would probably lose – and I am in no doubt he knows that.”

Originally published as New feud between two of Sydney’s biggest crime clans – The Alameddines and The Haouchars