Middle East News Security

Syria Arrests Mihrac Ural, Suspect in Baniyas Massacres and Türkiye’s Reyhanlı Bombings: What Is Confirmed

Syria’s General Intelligence Service has arrested Ali Kayali, better known in Türkiye as Mihrac Ural, as he tried to flee across the border, the state news agency SANA reported on Thursday 15 October 2026. Kayali led a pro-Assad militia and is accused of a leading role in the May 2013 massacres at al-Bayda and Ras al-Nabaa in Baniyas on the Syrian coast. Türkiye has long named him as a main suspect in the twin car bombings that killed 53 people in Reyhanlı, Hatay, the same month. SANA did not say where he was detained or which border he was trying to cross. Accounts of the arrest also differ: one rights monitor says it happened in Lebanon, and Turkish media report that Turkish intelligence took part. Here is what is confirmed, what is claimed, and why the arrest matters for Syrian–Turkish security cooperation.

Cover: abstract briefing graphic (DefenceMENA).

What SANA reported

According to SANA, the General Intelligence Service detained Kayali “as he attempted to flee across the border”. The agency said:

Kayali formed an armed militia that fought alongside the former government’s forces during the uprising. SANA blames it for several massacres, “most notably in Al-Bayda and Ras al-Nabaa in Baniyas”.
Citing the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), SANA put the al-Bayda toll at 264 civilians, including 36 children and 28 women, and the Ras al-Nabaa toll at 195 civilians, including 56 children and 43 women.
It also accused militias tied to Kayali of killings in the countryside of Latakia, Aleppo and Idlib.
His deputy, Jamal Tarabulsi, was arrested by Syrian security forces on 4 October.
Earlier this month, Turkish intelligence arrested Omar al-Khatib, described by SANA as one of the planners of the Reyhanlı bombing, as he tried to flee by sea to Europe.

SANA framed the arrest as part of the Interior Ministry’s pursuit of people accused of crimes against civilians under the former government, “as part of efforts to achieve transitional justice”. Anadolu Agency, TRT World and Al Jazeera carried the same account, and each noted that the report did not give the place of arrest or the border involved.

Where was he caught? Conflicting accounts

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), citing its own sources, said Kayali was detained inside Lebanon, in the Mansourieh area, after returning from al-Rasoul al-Azam Hospital, and that his home was raided before he was taken away, the Kurdish news agency ANHA reported. Neither the Syrian nor the Lebanese government has confirmed this, and it does not match SANA’s description of an arrest at the border. Neither version can be independently verified for now.

In Türkiye, the private İhlas News Agency (IHA) reported that Ural, wanted in Türkiye’s “red category” of most-wanted terrorism suspects, was caught at the border in an operation coordinated by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) and Syria’s General Intelligence Service. SANA’s report does not mention Turkish involvement. We had not found a published MİT statement at the time of writing, so the joint-operation detail should be treated as reported, not officially confirmed.

Who is Mihrac Ural?

Ural was born in 1956 in Antakya, Hatay. He was jailed in Türkiye for illegal organisational activities and fled to Syria in 1982, according to Anadolu’s Turkish service and SANA. Through his wife, Malak Fadel, who is related to the Assad family, he built close ties to Jamil al-Assad, brother of then-president Hafez al-Assad, and he gained privileges and wealth in Syria. Anadolu lists him among the founders of the THKP-C/Acilciler, a militant offshoot of a Turkish leftist group founded in 1970.

During the civil war he led the pro-government militia known as the “Syrian Resistance” (al-Muqawama al-Suriya). According to NTV, citing Anadolu, it was active in Latakia province, notably in the Turkmen-populated Bayırbucak area opposite Hatay’s Yayladağı district. That area runs along the Turkish border, which helps explain Ankara’s long interest in him.

The Reyhanlı link

On 11 May 2013, two car bombs exploded near the municipality building and the post office in Reyhanlı, a border town in Hatay. The blasts killed 53 people and damaged 912 homes, 891 businesses and 148 vehicles, according to Anadolu as carried by NTV. Some reports, including SANA’s, give the toll as 52. The Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s indictment found that Ural planned the attack with the intelligence services of the former Syrian government, Anadolu reported. Another fugitive planner, Yusuf Nazik, was brought back from Syria in a MİT operation. On 13 May 2019 an Ankara court sentenced him to 53 aggravated life terms, NTV/Anadolu reported.

Why it matters

For Ankara, Ural has been one of the most prominent fugitives tied to the Assad era. This arrest follows Tarabulsi’s detention on 4 October and, according to SANA, al-Khatib’s capture by Turkish intelligence. That makes three suspects linked to Ural’s militia or the Reyhanlı case detained in about two weeks. The Syrian authorities that replaced Assad in December 2024 have stepped up arrests of former officials and militia commanders accused of crimes against civilians, TRT World noted. If IHA’s account of a coordinated MİT–Syrian operation is confirmed, it would be a public example of operational counter-terrorism cooperation between Ankara and Damascus.

The bigger question is where Ural will face trial. Syria has framed the case around transitional justice for the Baniyas killings. Türkiye wants him over Reyhanlı. Neither government had said by Thursday afternoon whether he would be tried in Syria, handed to Türkiye, or both in turn.

Confirmed vs not confirmed

Confirmed (Syrian state media): the General Intelligence Service has Kayali/Ural in custody, and his deputy Tarabulsi was arrested on 4 October.
Disputed: where the arrest took place. SANA says at the border; SOHR says in Mansourieh, Lebanon.
Reported, not officially confirmed: MİT’s role in a coordinated operation (IHA).
Not known: the charges he will face in Syria, and whether Türkiye has formally requested his transfer.

What to watch next

A statement from MİT, the Turkish Interior or Justice Ministry, or the Syrian Interior Ministry on the operation and Ural’s legal status.
Any Lebanese response if the SOHR account of an arrest in Mansourieh holds.
Further arrests of members of the “Syrian Resistance” network linked to Reyhanlı and the 2013 coastal massacres.

Sources

Evidence note: The arrest itself rests on SANA, Syria’s state news agency, and is carried by Anadolu, TRT World and Al Jazeera. Casualty figures for al-Bayda and Ras al-Nabaa are SNHR’s as cited by SANA. The Reyhanlı toll and damage figures are Anadolu’s. The MİT role (IHA) and the Lebanon location (SOHR) are single-source claims. Updated as of 15 October 2026, 14:00 GMT.

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Adrian Cole Administrator All articles

Africa defence and security correspondent at DefenceMENA, covering procurement, defence industry and armed forces across the continent.

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