Lebanon identifies five people allegedly involved in taking Kayali to Syria — Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanese judicial and security agencies are investigating the alleged abduction of former Syrian regime officer Ali Kayali, also known as Mihrac Ural, in Mount Lebanon and his subsequent transfer to Syria. According to preliminary information from a Lebanese judicial source, four Syrians and one Lebanese national may have been involved in the operation, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
Route through northern Lebanon
A source from Lebanon’s judicial system told the publication that an analysis of the phones used by those involved in the operation, as well as numbers active near Kayali’s residence, indicates that he was taken from his home in Mansourieh. According to these data, he was then transported along the coastal road through Jounieh and Tripoli to the Abboudieh border crossing in Akkar.
The source denied reports that Kayali had allegedly been taken to the Syrian Embassy premises in Yarzeh. According to him, investigators obtained surveillance camera footage from the embassy and its vicinity, which confirmed that Kayali was not there.
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Discrepancies over coordination
After the Syrian side announced the operation, Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation Ahmad Rami al-Hajj instructed Lebanese Army Intelligence, the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, and General Security to establish the circumstances of the case and identify those involved.
The sides’ accounts of the operation differ. A Syrian security source told Agence France-Presse that the actions had allegedly been carried out in coordination with the Lebanese side. However, the Lebanese judicial source denied this, stating that local services had known neither about Kayali’s presence in Lebanon nor about his abduction before the Syrian side’s announcement.
According to the publication’s source, Kayali arrived secretly in Lebanon with his wife in 2025 and was in hiding while observing heightened precautions. Syrian authorities accuse him of responsibility for the mass killings in 2013 in al-Bayda and Baniyas on Syria’s coast. Human Rights Watch documented the execution of at least 248 people in these two localities, including women and children.
