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Syrian intelligence has arrested Ali Kayali, also known as Mihrac Ural, the chief suspect in the 2013 Baniyas massacre, who is also wanted by Türkiye over the deadly twin-car bombings in Reyhanli, as he tried to flee across the border, state news agency SANA reported Thursday.
"The General Intelligence Directorate arrested Ali Kayali, known as Mihrac Ural, the main suspect in committing the Baniyas massacre in 2013, while he was trying to flee across the border," SANA said.
It did not say where the arrest took place or which border he was trying to cross.
Ural, a Turkish-born former pro-Assad militia leader, has been sought by Türkiye for more than a decade over the May 2013 Reyhanli attack, one of the deadliest terror attacks in the country’s modern history.
Kayali, a former commander of the pro-Assad Syrian Resistance militia, has long been accused of a leading role in the mass killing of civilians in the coastal city of Baniyas and the nearby village of al-Bayda in May 2013.
On May 2, 2013, regime forces and allied militias stormed al-Bayda, killing hundreds of civilians, with survivors describing mass executions and burned homes.
His arrest came less than two weeks after Syrian authorities detained his former deputy, Jamal Trabulsi, on Oct. 4.
On May 11, 2013, two car bombs exploded in Reyhanli, in Türkiye’s southern Hatay province near the Syrian border, killing 52 people.
Turkish authorities blamed the attack on Syrian intelligence and issued a red notice for Ural, who was born in Antakya and fled to Syria decades ago.
Turkish intelligence has captured several suspects in the attack in recent years, including Yusuf Nazik, who confessed that the Syrian government ordered the bombings, according to Turkish officials.
Since Assad’s ouster in December 2024, Syrian authorities have stepped up arrests of former regime officials and militia commanders accused of crimes against civilians, as Ankara awaits the next step in Ural's case.
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