Syria announces the arrest of one of the most prominent officials responsible for the “massacres” of the revolution

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On Thursday, the Syrian authorities announced the arrest of Ali Kayali, the most prominent person responsible for the massacres during the Syrian revolution.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the General Intelligence Service arrested Ali Kayali, known as “Miraj Ural,” while he was trying to flee across the border.

According to the agency, “Kayali had formed an armed militia that participated alongside the forces of the former regime in suppressing the Syrian people during the years of the revolution, and committed several massacres in different regions, most notably the Al-Bayda and Ras Al-Nabaa massacres in Baniyas in 2013.”

Advisor to the Presidency for Media Affairs, Ahmed Muwafaq Zidane, congratulated the Syrian people on the arrest of the criminal called “Ali Kayali,” who carried out massacres during the period of the Syrian revolution.

Zidane confirmed, in a blog post on the “X” platform, that the prosecution of those who committed crimes against Syrians will continue, and said: “Every murderous criminal will be hunted down, whether long or short, there will be no escape from the prosecution of our security services.”

According to what was documented by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, “The Al-Bayda massacre resulted in the martyrdom of 264 civilians, including 36 children and 28 women, while the Ras Al-Nabaa massacre led to the martyrdom of 195 civilians, including 56 children and 43 women.”

Testimonies and reports related to the two massacres included accounts of the spread of corpses in the streets, shops, and even basements, and the implementation of field executions with bullets and knives, as well as the burning of homes and corpses.

The militias affiliated with Kayali also committed massacres against Syrians in the countryside of Latakia, Aleppo and Idlib, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Ural is considered the main accused in the double terrorist bombing that took place in the city of Reyhanli in Hatay, southern Türkiye, in 2013, which resulted in the deaths of 52 citizens, according to Anadolu Agency.

Oral (born 1956, Hatay - Turkey) enjoyed special privileges in Syria after fleeing Turkey in 1982, where he has a kinship with the president of the former regime through his wife, called “Malik Al-Fadil.”

At the beginning of this month, the Turkish intelligence service arrested Omar Al-Khatib, one of the planners of the Reyhanli bombing, while he was trying to flee by sea to Europe, where he coordinated between the perpetrators of the attack and intelligence elements of the former regime.

On the fourth of this month, security forces arrested Jamal Trabelsi, deputy to Miraj Ural.

The Ministry of Interior continues to pursue those involved in committing violations against civilians during the era of the former regime, as part of efforts to achieve transitional justice and hold those responsible for crimes accountable.