The General Intelligence Service arrested Ali Kayyali, known as "Mihrac Ural", the main figure implicated in the 2013 Banias massacre, as he tried to flee across the border, according to the SANA news agency.
Kayyali is of Turkish origin, born in Antakya in 1956, obtained Syrian citizenship, and led the "Popular Front for the Liberation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta", the armed group loyal to the former regime.
Why was Kayyali known as the "Butcher of Banias"?
Kayyali was implicated in the al-Bayda massacre in the Banias countryside in May 2013, in which civilians were killed, and he became known after it as the "Butcher of Banias".
