After 13 Years of Pursuit.. Turkey Arrests a Syrian Suspect in the Reyhanlı Explosion

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Turkish intelligence announced today, Thursday, the arrest of Syrian Omar Al-Khatib, who is accused by authorities of participating in the planning and organization of the Reyhanlı attack in Hatay province in 2013, which resulted in the death of 53 people and injured dozens.

The Anadolu Agency reported from security sources that the Turkish intelligence agency, known as MIT, arrested Al-Khatib while he was attempting to leave Turkey by sea towards Europe, before being returned to Turkey again.

According to the state-run TRT channel, Al-Khatib was among those involved in planning the infamous attack, and he had reportedly coordinated between the perpetrators of the operation and the military intelligence elements of the regime of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Turkish security information.

The newspaper Cumhuriyet also reported that Al-Khatib met in 2013 with both Yusuf Nazik and Kifah Malhim, where the details of the attack were discussed during the meetings. It added that Al-Khatib and Nazik entered Turkey through Hatay in February 2013 and identified the attack sites before obtaining approval to carry it out.

TRT Haber reported that Al-Khatib went to the military intelligence branch in Latakia in May 2013 accompanied by Timer Doukanji, where they received, according to the Turkish narrative, equipment used in preparing the explosive device. The sources added that the car bomb was later transported to Reyhanlı and detonated by remote control.

The Turkish intelligence stated, according to what Anadolu Agency reported, that it continued to track Al-Khatib's movements inside Syria since the attack, before executing the recent operation after monitoring his plan to escape to Europe.

Al-Khatib's arrest comes after a series of operations related to the attack case. TRT Haber mentioned that Turkish authorities arrested Yusuf Nazik in 2018, and Cengiz Sertel in 2024, while announcing in 2025 the arrest of Mohammed Dib Korali and Timer Doukanji, whom they accuse of participating in the planning or execution.

The Reyhanlı attack occurred on May 11, 2013, when two car bombs exploded in the Reyhanlı district of Hatay province in southern Turkey, resulting in the deaths of 53 people.

Reyhanlı is located near the Syrian border and was a key point for movement between the two countries during the early years of the Syrian war, making Hatay, known in Arabic as "Antakya", an area of increasing security importance with the escalation of the war and the influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey.