Syria arrests the main suspect in the 2013 Banias massacre

Syrian authorities say intelligence services arrested Ali Kayali, known as Mihrac Ural, as he tried to flee across a border. They did not say which one.

People executed in Bayda and Banias in 2013

248 civilians

On May 2 and 3, 2013, government and pro-government forces summarily executed at least 248 people in Bayda and Banias, in Tartus province, according to Human Rights Watch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the toll at about 400.

Background

Ural led a paramilitary group allied with Bashar al-Assad's government during the civil war. Turkish prosecutors also suspect him of planning the 2013 double car bombing in Reyhanli, Turkey, which killed 53 people.

"Every murderous criminal will be hunted down."

— Ahmad Zeydan, media adviser to President al-Sharaa