Mihraç Ural, a Turkish-born militia leader whose detention was announced by Syrian authorities Thursday, was apprehended in Lebanon in an operation coordinated with Lebanese authorities, a Syrian security source told Agence France-Presse, providing new details about the capture of a fugitive wanted in Turkey over deadly bombings in 2013.
Syrian state news agency SANA had reported Thursday that Ural, also known as Ali Kayali, was detained while attempting to flee across the border, but did not specify where the arrest took place or which country he was trying to enter.
Ural led the Syrian Resistance, an armed militia that fought alongside forces loyal to former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Syrian authorities accuse him of playing a leading role in massacres in Baniyas and nearby al-Bayda, two predominantly Sunni Muslim communities in Syria’s coastal Tartus province.
Human Rights Watch documented the execution of at least 248 civilians by Syrian government forces and allied militias in the two communities on May 2 and 3, 2013, describing the killings as among the deadliest mass executions of the civil war.
Women and children were among those killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the combined death toll at around 400, according to AFP.
Ural is also a defendant in Turkey’s long-running prosecution over the May 11, 2013, bombings in Reyhanlı, a town in the southern province of Hatay near the Syrian border.
Two car bombs exploded near city hall and the post office, killing 53 people and wounding more than 100. The attack came as Turkey was sheltering Syrians fleeing the civil war and supporting opposition forces seeking to overthrow Assad.
Turkish prosecutors have accused Ural of helping plan the bombings with the support of Assad’s intelligence services, according to prosecution documents cited by Turkish state media.
Ankara blamed a group linked to Syrian intelligence for the attacks, an allegation Assad’s government denied.
Ural has previously denied involvement in both the Reyhanlı bombings and the killings in Baniyas, including in a 2013 interview with BBC Turkish.
In June an Ankara court sentenced Memet Gezer, Temir Dükancı and Cengiz Sertel to multiple aggravated life terms over the Reyhanlı bombings. The court separated Ural’s case because he was at large.
Earlier proceedings resulted in convictions of other defendants, including Yusuf Nazik, who was captured in Syria in 2018 and sentenced the following year.
Ural’s detention follows the capture of another fugitive defendant in the Reyhanlı case earlier this month. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) captured Omar al-Khatib as he was preparing to flee to Europe by sea and brought him to Turkey, according to Turkish security sources.
Al-Khatib is accused of helping plan the bombings and coordinating between the perpetrators and Syrian intelligence officials.
Syrian security forces also arrested Ural’s former deputy, Cemal Trablusi, on October 4, accusing him of involvement in the 2013 killings in al-Bayda and Baniyas and of fighting alongside Assad’s forces.
Born in Antakya, Turkey, in 1956, Ural served time in a Turkish prison before fleeing to Syria in 1982. He later established close ties with the Assad government and reportedly acquired Syrian citizenship under then-president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s father.
He also married a relative of the Assad family and amassed a fortune, according to Turkish state media cited by AFP.
His appearance at a Russian-hosted peace conference in Sochi in 2018 prompted a diplomatic dispute after Turkey demanded his arrest and extradition. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ural’s detention was welcomed by officials in Syria’s new government, which has pursued former military and intelligence figures accused of abuses under Assad.
Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais wrote on X Thursday that the arrest “sends a clear message: there is no room in Syria for impunity for criminals; the rights of victims will not be lost, no matter how much time passes.”
Ahmed Zeydan, a media adviser to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, also welcomed the detention, describing Ural as “a criminal … who committed massacres during the Syrian war, including those in Bayda and Banias.”
“Every murderous criminal will be hunted down,” he said, according to AFP.
The arrest comes as Syria and neighboring Lebanon seek to rebuild relations following Assad’s overthrow in December 2024 by an Islamist-led rebel offensive, which ended more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.
Syria’s civil war began with pro-democracy protests in 2011 that were violently suppressed by Assad’s government. The uprising developed into a prolonged conflict involving opposition groups, government-backed militias, jihadist organizations and foreign powers.
Assad’s overthrow also weakened the position of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group that had fought alongside his forces during the war and relied on Syria as a key regional ally.
Lebanese authorities have arrested several former Syrian security figures in recent months. In September they detained a distant cousin of Assad, while an earlier operation led to the arrest of a former Syrian intelligence officer and several alleged accomplices accused of plotting attacks against forces of Syria’s new government.
In August Lebanon extradited to Damascus a former Assad-era general accused of crimes including murder and torture.
Since taking power, Syria’s new authorities have arrested dozens of former security officials accused of abuses during Assad’s rule. Their trials began in April, according to AFP.
Turkey, meanwhile, has developed close ties with Syria’s new leadership under al-Sharaa.
It remains unclear whether Ural will stand trial in Syria or whether Turkey will seek his extradition over the Reyhanlı bombings.
Syrian authorities have not announced any arrangement for his transfer to Turkey.
Agence France-Presse, with reporting from Turkish Minute
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