World
Syrian Forces Detain Key Suspect in 2013 Baniyas Massacre
Syrian authorities have detained Ali Kayali, also known as Mihrac Ural, while he was attempting to cross a border, state news agency SANA reported on Thursday. Kayali, who has long been suspected of leading the armed group that carried out the 2013 killings of mostly Sunni civilians in the villages of Bayda and Ras al‑Nabaa in the Baniyas region of western Syria, was apprehended by intelligence officials. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), the Bayda massacre killed 264 civilians, including 36 children and 28 women, while the Ras al‑Nabaa attack resulted in 195 deaths, including 56 children. Human Rights Watch described the killings as “one of the deadliest instances of mass executions in Syria’s increasingly bloody conflict.” Militias linked to Kayali are also accused of massacres in the Latakia, Aleppo and Idlib countrysides, leaving hundreds dead or wounded. Turkey’s state‑run Anadolu news agency reported that Kayali is the main suspect in the 2013 twin bombings in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, which killed at least 52 people. Kayali, born Mihrac Ural in 1956 in Hatay, Turkey, fled to Syria in 1982. SANA said he is married to Malak al‑Fadel, an Alawite from Syria. Earlier this month, Kayali’s deputy Jamal Tarabulsi was arrested by Syrian security forces as authorities intensify efforts to capture former regime officials and militia commanders accused of crimes against civilians during the civil war. The war, which began with pro‑democracy protests in 2011, quickly evolved into a complex armed conflict involving paramilitary forces, armed groups and foreign powers. In a multi‑confessional country, the conflict took on a sectarian character, with the Baniyas and Bayda killings often viewed as a turning point. The conflict ended with the ousting of President Bashar al‑Assad in 2024 by a rebel group that seized power in a rapid offensive.