Syria arrests Ali Kayali, known as the "Butcher of Baniyas"

On Thursday (October 15), the Syrian authorities arrested Ali Kayali, one of the symbols of the Assad regime and accused of committing the Baniyas massacre, in which at least 250 people were killed.

The Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported earlier that “the General Intelligence Service arrested Ali Kayali” during a “security operation” in Lebanon while he was “attempting to escape across the border,” without mentioning any additional details, or any information about the country to which he intended to flee.

However, a Syrian security source who refused to reveal his identity reported that “he was arrested in Lebanon, during a security operation in coordination with the Lebanese side.”

Syrian Minister of Justice Mazhar Al-Wais commented on the news of the arrest on the X platform, saying, “The arrest of the criminal Kayali is a clear message that there is no place in Syria for impunity against perpetrators, and that the rights of victims are not lost no matter how long it takes.”

Presidential Advisor for Media Affairs Ahmed Mwafaq Zidan wrote in a post on the

The new leadership that came to power in December 2024 announces from time to time the arrest of military and security officials from the previous era, who were involved in committing atrocities and crimes against Syrians during the years of conflict, and began putting many of them on trial last April.

Who is Ali Kayali?

Ali Kayali, nicknamed "Miraj Ural," is the main accused of committing a massacre in the coastal city of Baniyas in 2013, where Syrian government forces field-executed 248 people in Al-Bayda and Baniyas in the west of the country, according to Human Rights Watch, which considered it "one of the bloodiest mass field executions since the beginning of the conflict in Syria."

The two towns are inhabited by a Sunni majority, and are located in the coastal Tartous Governorate, which has an Alawite majority, the minority to which ousted President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the final toll of victims was approximately 400 people.

According to the Turkish government agency Anatolia, Kayali, born in 1956, comes from the Hatay province bordering Syria in southern Türkiye. He escaped from prison in Türkiye in 1982 to Syria, and fought alongside the Assad regime during the war years.

Kayali led a group called the "Syrian Resistance" and the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Iskenderun District", and before that he was active in a leftist party banned in Türkiye.

In Türkiye, Kayali is accused of planning two bombings that targeted the Reyhanli border area with Syria, killing 53 people, with the support of Syrian intelligence at the time.

In October, Turkey arrested a main suspect in this attack called Omar al-Khatib, who is accused of coordinating the operation between the perpetrators and Syrian intelligence officials during Assad’s rule, according to official Turkish media.