Ali Kayali, widely known by the alias Mihraç Ural, was arrested by the General Intelligence Directorate during an attempted border infiltration.
Kayali is identified as the principal perpetrator of the 2013 massacre in the town of Al‑Bayda in the Baniyas countryside, an atrocity that claimed hundreds of civilian lives and earned him the moniker “The Butcher of Baniyas.”
Turkish media reports describe Kayali as a founding member in the 1970s of Acilciler, a Turkish left‑wing organisation referred to locally as “The Urgents,” which carried out terrorist operations during that period. After the group ceased activity following 1980, Kayali fled to Syria, where he cultivated ties with the family of Jamil al‑Assad and established a militia named the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta. In the years preceding the Syrian uprising in 2011, he moved between France and Syria, residing for a time in Paris before returning to the Syrian coast to form and arm militias involved in violence and sectarian cleansing against civilians.
In early May 2013, Kayali led the assault on Al‑Bayda, where hundreds were killed or wounded through mass executions, stabbings, immolation and gunfire. His militia was later implicated in a series of atrocities, including the May 2012 Houla massacre in the Homs countryside, as well as armed campaigns across rural Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Latakia.
A Step Toward Justice for Al‑Bayda and Ras al‑Nabaa
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), stated that the arrest of Ali Kayali represents an essential step toward accountability for the May 2013 massacres in Al‑Bayda and Ras al‑Nabaa, offering a measure of justice to the families of the victims.
Speaking to SANA on Thursday, Abdul Ghany said the arrest restores hope for justice more than thirteen years after the crimes were committed. He noted that SNHR documented the events as they unfolded and identified Kayali in a report published on 10 May 2013, based on eyewitness testimony naming him as a principal commander of the massacre.
Abdul Ghany explained that the allegations against Kayali are grounded in contemporaneous documentation rather than recent developments, and he stressed the importance of subjecting all evidence to judicial scrutiny. He stated that SNHR recorded the deaths of 459 civilians, including 92 children and 71 women, in addition to dozens of missing and detained individuals. The violations included summary executions, the destruction of entire families, the burning of bodies and homes, and widespread looting carried out by forces of the deposed regime and allied loyalist militias.
The SNHR director affirmed that the organisation possesses testimonies, data, photographs and video recordings collected since 2013 that can serve as the foundation for a criminal prosecution. He noted, however, that using these materials as judicial evidence requires verifying their sources, authenticity and chain of custody, and cross‑referencing them with military and security records.
He underscored the legal requirement to establish a direct link between the alleged crimes and any suspect, whether through direct participation, issuing orders, facilitating execution or bearing command responsibility under international law. He also emphasised the right of victims’ families to know the truth, participate in judicial proceedings and obtain full redress and reparations.
Abdul Ghany reiterated SNHR’s readiness to cooperate with competent judicial authorities, as it has in previous cases, to ensure that the arrest leads to fair judicial rulings based on verifiable evidence that reveals the truth and honours the victims.
The General Intelligence Directorate’s announcement confirms Kayali’s arrest as one of the principal figures responsible for the Baniyas atrocities, which resulted in the killing of hundreds of civilians, most of them women and children.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
The post ‘Butcher of Baniyas’ Arrested: Mihraç Ural Captured During Attempted Border Infiltration first appeared on The Syrian Observer.