Syria arrests 'Butcher of Baniyas' accused of 2013 coastal massacres

Syria's General Intelligence Directorate has arrested Ali Kayali, the al-Assad era militia commander linked to the 2013 Bayda and Baniyas massacres, as he attempted to flee the country, state-run SANA news agency reported. Known by his alias Mihrac Ural, Kayali is accused of commanding armed groups that carried out killings alongside forces of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, including in the coastal province of Tartus, and in rural areas of Latakia, Aleppo and Idlib. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights cited unnamed sources who said Kayali was taken from his home in the Mansourieh area of Lebanon, not at a Syrian border crossing.