Turkish intelligence captures suspect in 2013 Reyhanli terror attack

Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) captured Omer al-Khatib, one of the Syrian suspects in the 2013 terror attack in Reyhanli that killed 53 people, as he was preparing to flee to Europe by sea, security sources said on Thursday.

According to the sources, al-Khatib, who was wanted under an Interpol Red Notice, was involved in planning and organizing the attack in the Turkish town and coordinated between the perpetrators and intelligence officials affiliated with Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Khatib brought Yusuf Nazik, who was planning operations targeting Türkiye, together with Kifah Melhem in 2013, with details of the attack determined during the meetings.

Al-Khatib and Nazik first entered Türkiye through Hatay in February 2013 before the attack and identified the locations to be targeted. They received approval from Melhem, who was in Latakia, according to the sources.

Before the attack in May 2013, al-Khatib went with Temir Dukanci to the Latakia branch of military intelligence and received materials to be used in the explosive device.

The bomb-laden vehicle was taken to Reyhanli by Dukanci and Nazik and detonated using a remote-controlled explosive device.

Immediately after the attack, al-Khatib took Dukanci and Nazik, who had fled to Syria, to the Latakia branch of military intelligence.

Al-Khatib and others who carried out the attack were financially rewarded by the Bashar al-Assad regime, the sources said.

MIT tracks suspect step by step

MIT began efforts to capture those responsible immediately after the Reyhanli attack and closely monitored al-Khatib's activities in Syria, as it did with other suspects.

MIT captured al-Khatib as he was preparing to flee to Europe by sea and subsequently brought him to Türkiye.

Nazik, one of the perpetrators and planners of the attack, was captured in 2018; Cengiz Sertel in 2024, and Muhammed Dib Korali and Dukanci were captured in 2025.

Maj. Gen. Kifah Melhem in Syria, who gave the order for the Reyhanli attack, was appointed by Bashar al-Assad as head of the National Security Bureau in February 2024.

Melhem is known to have fled abroad following the fall of the Assad regime.