Omar al-Khatib played a planning and coordination role in the Reyhanli attack

Ömer al-Hatip, who was wanted with a red notice, was involved in the planning and organization of the Reyhanlı attack. He also ensured coordination between the perpetrators of the attack and intelligence members affiliated with Bashar Assad.

WHO IS OMER EL-HATIP?

Ömer al-Hatip was born in 1976 in Syria/Idlib. After his military service in the 14th Division in Damascus, he worked in construction in Idlib for a while. He went to Latakia in 2011, when the civil unrest began in Syria. He took part in the Shabiha group, which carried out armed activities against the opposition within the "Emn al-Askari", the military intelligence unit affiliated with Bashar Assad. In this way, he met Kifah Melhem, the head of Emn El Military Latakia Branch at the time.

Ömer al-Hatip met other perpetrators of the Reyhanlı explosions when he lived in Latakia after 2011. Cengiz Sertel, who stayed together in a villa in Latakia, carried out smuggling activities in the Latakia and Keseb regions together with Ercan Bayat and Yusuf Nazik.

THEY PLANNED THE REYHANLI ATTACK TOGETHER

Ömer el-Hatip brought together Yusuf Nazik, who was making action plans for Turkey, with Kifah Melhem in 2013. The details of the action planning were also determined in these meetings.

First, Ömer el-Hatip and Yusuf Nazik entered Turkey from Hatay in February 20213 before the attack and determined the points where the action would be carried out. They received approval from Kifah Melhem in Latakia.

Before the date of action, in May 2013, Ömer al-Hatip went to Emn El Military Latakia Branch with Temir Dükancı and received the materials to be used in the bomb device. The bombed vehicle was taken to Reyhanlı by Temir Dükancı and Yusuf Nazik and detonated with a remote-controlled bomb device.

THEY WERE REWARDED BY THE ASSAD REGIME

Ömer al-Hatip took Temir Dükancı and Yusuf Nazik, who fled to Syria immediately after the attacks, to the Emn El Military Latakia Branch. Omar al-Khatib and other individuals who carried out the action were rewarded with a large amount of money by the Bashar Assad Regime.

MYTH FOLLOWED STEP BY STEP

MİT started working to catch the perpetrators immediately after the Reyhanlı attack. Like other perpetrators, Omar al-Khatib's activities in Syria were closely followed.

MİT took action upon Ömer al-Hatip's plan to escape to Europe. Ömer al-Hatip, one of the Syrian perpetrators of the Reyhanlı attack, was captured by MİT and brought to Turkey while he was about to escape to Europe by sea.

Yusuf Nazik, one of the perpetrators and planners of the attack, was caught in 2018, Cengiz Sertel in 2024, Muhammed Dib Koralı and Temir Dükancı in 2025.

Major General Kifah Melhem, who gave the order for the Reyhanlı attack, was appointed as the Head of the National Security Department by Bashar Assad in February 2024. It is known that Kifah Melhem fled abroad after the fall of the Assad regime.