MİT captures Reyhanlı bombing suspect Ömer el-Hatip fleeing to Europe

Türkiye’s intelligence agency MİT captured Ömer el-Hatip, one of the perpetrators of the 2013 Reyhanlı bombing that killed 53 people, as he was preparing to flee to Europe by sea, and brought him to Türkiye.

Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) captured Ömer el-Hatip, one of the perpetrators of the May 11, 2013 terror attack in Reyhanlı, Hatay, that killed 53 people. Wanted under an international red notice, el-Hatip was caught as he was preparing to flee to Europe by sea and was brought to Türkiye.

The center of Reyhanlı in Hatay (file, 2016)

According to Anadolu Agency, el-Hatip acted as a coordinator between the attackers and Assad regime intelligence officials, linking bomber Yusuf Nazik with regime intelligence figure Kifah Melhem. In February 2013 he and Nazik traveled from Latakia to Hatay to scout targets; in May 2013 he collected bomb-making materials at the Latakia security branch, which were then transported to Reyhanlı and detonated by remote control.

MİT headquarters in Ankara (file)

Latakia in Syria, where the attack was planned (file)

Other perpetrators were captured earlier: Yusuf Nazik in 2018, Cengiz Sertel in 2024, and Muhammed Dib Koralı and Temir Dükancı in 2025. Organizer Kifah Melhem is reported to have fled abroad after the fall of the Assad regime.