Syrian intelligence has detained Mihraç Ural, a militia leader wanted in connection with the 2013 bombings that killed 53 people in Reyhanlı, a town in southern Turkey near the Syrian border, Syria’s SANA state news agency reported Thursday.
Ural, also known as Ali Kayali, was caught while trying to flee across the border, SANA reported. The agency did not specify where or when he was detained or identify the country he was trying to enter. It gave no information about a possible transfer to Turkey.
Ural led the Syrian Resistance, a militia that fought alongside the forces of ousted president Bashar al-Assad. He is also a defendant in Turkey’s long-running prosecution over the Reyhanlı attacks.
Two car bombs exploded near city hall and the post office in Reyhanlı, in Hatay province, on May 11, 2013, 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.
Ankara accused a group linked to Syrian intelligence of carrying out the bombings. Assad’s government denied involvement.
Ural has previously denied involvement in the Reyhanlı attacks and separate killings in Syria’s coastal city of Baniyas, including in a 2013 interview with BBC Turkish.
Ural was born in Antakya, Turkey, in 1956, and reportedly later acquired Syrian citizenship under then-president Hafez al-Assad, the father of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
His 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 an October 1 report citing Turkish security sources.
Al-Khatib is accused of helping plan the bombings and coordinating between the perpetrators and Syrian intelligence officials. The report did not identify where he was captured.
On October 4 Syria’s Interior Ministry also announced the arrest of Ural’s deputy, Cemal Trablusi. Syrian security forces accused Trablusi of participating in killings in al-Bayda and Baniyas in 2013 and fighting alongside Assad’s forces.
SANA described Ural as a principal suspect in the Baniyas massacre. Human Rights Watch documented the execution of at least 248 people by Syrian government and pro-government forces in al-Bayda and Baniyas on May 2 and 3, 2013.
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 produced convictions against other defendants, including Yusuf Nazik, who was captured in Syria in 2018 and sentenced the following year.
Ural’s presence at a Russian-hosted Syria peace conference in Sochi in 2018 prompted a diplomatic dispute. Turkey demanded that Moscow detain and extradite him, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raising the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since Assad’s overthrow in December 2024, Turkey has developed close ties with Syria’s new leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
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